Speaking Memory
by Omphalos
Summary: Chapter 6 up! Cloud and Keira answer each others' questions as they begin their long journey. Meanwhile, the fate of Wutai is threatened by an old and mysterious foe. Please read and review! It'll make you AWESOME.
1. How Things Were

_The dream was always the same._

_The light was heading towards them. Cloud could hear Cid cursing, Yuffie's scream of panic, the various shouts and utterances from every passenger on the Highwind, as the power of Holy raced towards them. Cloud tried to face the blaze head-on, but had to duck away at the last minute, cowed by its brilliance. He felt Tifa grab his hand…_

_…but the flesh slipped off in his hand like old leather. Horrified, Cloud looked up to see Tifa's face melted and burned beyond recognition, the bloated, charred tongue lolling in her skull like a slug. Cloud tried to scream, tried to pull his hand away, but his skin was burning, his bones twisting, the pain was unbearable…_

Tifa woke up gasping, drenched to the skin with sweat. She tried to swallow, but her throat was dry- a moment of vestigial panic; was her throat split open and dry from the searing heat? No, no, not real, not real. One breath. Two breaths. Her heart was calming down now, no longer slamming itself against her sternum in an attempt to escape. A dream. Only a dream.

Instinctively, Tifa reached over to the other side of the bed, but dropped her hand at the last second. Even after a month of sleeping alone, she still wasn't used to it, still slept curled up on the left side of her bed. The only difference now was that she was curled around a lumpy pillow, instead of Cloud.

Tifa lay back down, trying to soothe her jangled nerves. She had been having these dreams for a week now. Each time, she was someone other than herself, and every dream ended with her, as the other, being burnt and polluted by dream-Tifa. There was no rhyme or reason in these dreams. They didn't follow what had actually happened when Holy burst towards the Highwind, they didn't express anything Tifa herself had done, and there had certainly been no wrenching, disfiguring force. No one had been burnt alive, least of all her.

Lying in bed, Tifa turned her head to the low window on the eastern side of the bedroom. She could see a few quiet pines, a sliver of bright moon. The early morning was peaceful and lovely, certainly _not_ a night for sweat-slick nightmares. Especially seeing as Tifa had never had more than a few nightmares in her entire life, and only following major emotional upheavals- she usually slept like a coma patient. Seven straight days of bad dreams was extremely unusual for her, and she didn't know what to do about it. "It's got to stop," she mumbled aloud.

She looked at the clock. Four in the morning- with any luck, Vincent would still be awake.

* * *

"Vincent? It's me," Tifa's voice came over the phone.

Vincent groaned and squinted at the clock. "You do realize it's not yet sunrise?"

"…sorry…" came her sheepish mumble. "..thought you'd still be up."

The reticence in Tifa's tone surprised him. "I'm up," he assured her, "I just prefer to pretend I'm not. Sometimes, I can convince myself that it's not insomnia, it's just a very dull and realistic dream." Her responding laughter seemed small. "Is everything all right?"

"I guess so," Tifa said, "but I could use some advice. I've been having these horrible dreams lately, and I can't seem to shake it."

Vincent sat up and touched a button next to the bed, causing the overhead lights to emit an answering glow. "All right…?"

Tifa explained her dream to him. Silently, Vincent didn't find it particularly terrible, but he knew his experience with nightmares was a little more exhaustive than most peoples'. After all, he'd had a couple decades of solid bad dreams. Still, the incredible detail in Tifa's explanation was noteworthy, particularly the intricacy with which she described the snapping of bone and burning of her flesh. "So, you're never yourself?"

"Never. I'm always a different person in the party."

"You've had this dream seven times"?

"Yes."

"May I ask…who were you, ah, 'playing' each time?"

Tifa was silent for a moment. "The first time-and this last time-I dreamt I was seeing it as Cloud. The second time I was you, the third time I was…" She paused. "The third time, I seemed to be watching it from outside the plane, and I- I mean, Tifa was reaching out towards me…er, whoever I was."

Now it was Vincent's turn to keep mum.

"Vin?"

"I'm thinking. You dreamt you were me?"

"Uh, yeah. Does it bug you?"

"Only because I'm not aware of the context."

"Look, it's really scaring me. I've never in my entire life had really vivid dreams, and now I'm having them all the time. I don't like it very much."

"Obviously. Have you told Cloud?"

"Uh…" Tifa sounded strangled. "Um, no."

Vincent frowned. "…?"

Tifa coughed. "Yeah, no, um, Cloud's not…I mean, he doesn't know. I mean, whatever, he wouldn't know what to say, right?" She gave a strangled little titter. "He'd probably just say, 'oh, you must have eaten something weird before bed.' You know how he is."

"Based on how you're talking, I know he isn't there."

Tifa was quiet.

"Tifa."

"Okay, no, he isn't. Cloud and I aren't really speaking right now. He's staying at Cid's."

"Oh, Tifa…" Vincent shook his head, knowing Tifa wouldn't be able to see him. "How long have you two been fighting?"

"We're _not_ fighting," she said sharply. "Matter of fact, we're not anything. He barely spoke to me for two weeks, and then a month ago he just looks at me in the middle of breakfast and says, 'I'm going out'…and that was the last thing he said to me. I went upstairs a few hours later, and all his stuff was gone."

Vincent didn't know what to say. "Tifa, I…I'm sorry. Had you fought?"

"No!" she insisted, "We were getting along just fine. In fact, he had been talking about moving out of Kalm and getting a better place somewhere outside Junon. I mean, we had problems, but what couple doesn't?"

This was not the conversation Vincent wanted to have this early in the morning. With a sigh, he reached down and fished a shirt off the floor. "Tifa, dreams are one thing, but please don't ask me to be your couple's counsellor."

"Oh, _sorry_."

"No, wait, I didn't—"

"Whatever, Vincent. I'll call you tomorrow, okay? Sorry for bothering you. Goodnight."

"T—" Too late. She had hung up. Vincent sighed again and began to dress, looking bleakly at the desert dawn. Sunrise, sunset, and everything astrological may have been venerated in the rest of Cosmo Canyon, but as far as Vincent was concerned, the passage of solar time only served to remind him of his long and sleepless nights.

Of course, Cloud and Tifa had gotten together after the end of their long adventure. It had seemed only natural- Tifa's face followed him like a sunflower turns to the light, and Cloud had seemed…well, Vincent privately never thought Cloud had seemed all that interested in Tifa, or any other woman, but the pair had seemed happy enough. He hadn't heard from Tifa in a couple weeks, but she had seemed all right when she last called him.

It had only been two years since the destruction of Sephiroth and Meteor, and the AVALANCHE crew had parted ways. Tifa and Cloud had moved in together in a house in Kalm; Tifa had thought about opening another restaurant, but business in the area was slow and she had decided to wait until more of Midgar was rebuilt. Cid returned to Rocket Town, re-christened it Highwind, and proclaimed himself the mayor. Oddly enough, the citizenry had been quite happy with it, and last time he'd visited, the town had been thriving. Cid still lived with Shera, and claimed there was nothing between them, but most would agree Shera felt differently. Barret had made a similar move, returning to Corel in order to rebuild the depressed area. Yuffie went home to Wutai, where she was probably having a fine time fighting with her father and practicing her martial arts.

Vincent himself, having no home to return to, had agreed to accompany Nanaki back to Cosmo Canyon. He felt that if there was nothing else to do for a while, he may as well learn something of Planetary history. The incident two years ago had changed much in the way of topography and biology, and scholars at the Canyon were eager to gather as much new information as they could. Someone like Vincent, who had traveled the world during the upheaval, was very valuable to them, and he passed most of his time with the Canyon elders, helping with cartography and passing on bits of information about Shinra's early reactors- data that was now more important historically. With them, Vincent and Nanaki had also taken Cait Sith- what was left of him, anyways. The stuffed cat had stopped talking and moving after the advance of Holy. The general consensus of the party was that Reeve was either killed in the blast, or simply lost control of the technology controlling the toy, and hadn't been able to rebuild it. Either way, the furry hulk stood in the corner of Vincent's room, silent, just in case it was ever reclaimed. The other party members pronounced this morbid, but Vincent rather liked the situation. It saved him a great deal of time in decorating.

Fully dressed now, Vincent sat on his small balcony and watched the sun come up over the horizon. Below him, the denizens of the Canyon were performing their morning ritual, chanting blowing small reed flutes that emitted a birdlike hoot traditionally believed to chase away lingering spirits who roamed the night, as Nanaki had explained to him. Vincent was often invited to join the ceremony, but always abstained, preferring as usually to be an observer.

He pondered Tifa's dream. What could it mean, appearing so long after the Meteor incident? Lingering trauma? Guilt and self-blame from her problems with Cloud? Or was it something more sinister, something more…supernatural? He didn't know, but he desperately wanted to find out. Vincent himself had felt uneasy lately, as if there was something important he had forgotten to do.

* * *

"Give me the status report."

"Yes, Madame President." Reno stood to the left, Rude to the right, and Elena right behind him, facing the window. "The Company has no money, no clout, and no prestige. Everyone thinks we dissolved, we've lost our Mako sources, and everyone thinks you're dead."

Leslie Shinra took a long drag of her cigarette. Reno watched, fascinated, as her red lips pursed around the small cylinder, caressing it, it seemed. "Perfect. That will make secret operations so much easier."

Reno coughed.

President Shinra gestured to their rather unpleasant new base. A small, claustrophobic basement room below an abandoned grocery store in Sector Four with grease stains on the walls and piles of garbage in the corners. Reno remembered the former pomp and splendour of the Shinra Building with not a little wistfulness. Moving back in was out of the question, though- several former slum dwellers were squatting in the marble lobbies and plush, carpeted meeting rooms, "reclaiming" what the Shinra had "taken" from them. _Call it what you want_, Reno thought grimly,_ but it's still pretty slummy_.

"Look at this place." President Shinra's face was contorted with disgust. "If my father could only see this dump- he'd have a heart attack." She banged her fist on the table in front of her. "I will not see my family reduced to this state forever, do you understand me?"

"Yes, Madame President," the three Turks chorused.

"You are Turks. Your loyalty is to Shinra Incorporated until the day life leaves your bodies. Am I wrong?"

"You're absolutely right, Madame President," Elena piped up.

"Don't patronize me."

"Yes, ma'am…"

Rude cleared his throat. "…if I may ask…orders?"

President Shinra stubbed out her half-finished cigarette and promptly lit a second. "Cloud Strife and his cronies. They have been confirmed dead?"

The Turks looked at one another uncomfortably.

"Well? If I remember correctly, my brother's last commands to you were to seek them out and eliminate them once and for all." She looked from one blank face to another. "I see. Was this deliberate insubordination?"

"No, ma'am," Elena said, "we simply were not appraised of the situation properly. We were not told how much materia the group was carrying, or we could have taken them out."

"What Elena means," Reno interrupted, "is that Cloud and the others had been—"

"I am not interested in your excuses. That goes for both of you." President Shinra eyed Elena, who was bristling under the criticism. The blonde woman opened her mouth, then closed it with a grimace. "You were unable, for whatever reason you like, to kill three very ordinary people, no matter how well-equipped they were. Do you know anything of their current whereabouts?"

"We've done some reconnaissance, but it's not conclusive," said Reno. "We know, for instance, that one party member seems to be deceased, but we're not sure which. The group is fractured now, anyways, but most have returned to their hometowns. The former Shinra pilot, for instance, Cid Highwind—"

"Cid Highwind doesn't worry me." Shinra studied the burning tip of her cigarette. "He's the lord of some West Continent hick town, fine. We'll go in when it's necessary. That area never had a strong Shinra presence, and I'm not going to worry about building one until we reclaim more significant regions. Junon, for example."

"Yes, Madame president. We also know that Cloud Strife was last seen in Kalm, but that was over two months ago. Is that enough of a lead, or would you like us to confirm his location?"

Leslie Shinra thought for a moment. Reno took the time to appraise her bosom as it strained out of the tailored suit jacket, and decided to award her a seven out of ten. "Two months?"

"Six and a half weeks."

"That's not impossible." She eyed him coldly, and Reno felt momentarily unnerved. "Not for a Turk, hmm?"

"No, ma'am."

"Very well. I'd like someone to search Kalm. If he's there in any permanent sense, he must be in a record somewhere. If not, you should be able to track his activity. Go immediately."

* * *

"You're a damn fool."

"I know that, thank you." Cloud took another swig his beer.

"She's a damn pretty woman. Smart, too."

"Cid, this is not about Tifa, okay? Tifa _is_ great. I like Tifa. I might love her, I don't know." Cloud stared at the ceiling. "It's me."

"Bullshit! You don't know if you're in love with her after living with her for two years?"

"Exactly. The problem is with me." Cloud picked up his glass and downed the rest of the golden liquid in one gulp. "I've never been what she wanted me to be, and she started mentioning it." He looked straight at Cid. "You know what she said a couple months ago? I forgot it was our anniversary, and she said, 'I bet the real Cloud would have remembered.'"

Cid raised an eyebrow. "That's not like her."

"I know it's not."

"That's downright bitchy. Not even true."

"I know. That's my point exactly. I seem to bring out the worst in her." He sighed. "Maybe it's just time for us to stop being in a romantic relationship."

"Yeah, well, you should have said something to her."

"It's not like I didn't try, Cid. I called her after I got here and asked her what she thought."

"And?"

"She said it was too late to start talking about my feelings and she wasn't aware I had any, and hung up."

"Ouch."

"Yeah."

Shera poked her head out from inside the house. "Cloud? Can I get you another beer?"

"I'll get it myself, Shera, thanks." Cloud stood up and grabbed his glass. "I can finish the dishes, if you like."

"Thanks, I'd appreciate it."

Inside the house, Cloud shook his head. He _had_ tried. Whether he had failed or not, he'd given his relationship with Tifa everything he could, but they didn't seem to want the same things. It was difficult for her to understand his moments of withdrawal, and he couldn't cope with her bouts of emotion. Cloud had never been much for sweeping declarations of love and fits of postcoital crying, and Tifa's expectations had frightened him. He could not be a bleeding heart, and Tifa could no more easily stop expressing her feelings. She had done nothing wrong, but Cloud had noticed lately that they enjoyed each other more when behaving as friends. Perhaps that was just what they were meant to be.

Cloud was drying the last dish when the phone rang. He heard Shera run in and answer it in the bedroom. A few moments later, she walked into the kitchen. "Cloud? Sorry to disturb you, but Vincent is on the phone.'

"Oh. Thanks, Shera. Can I take it in your room?"

"Sure, go right ahead."

"Thanks."

Cloud walked into Shera's bedroom and sat down on the chair next to the bed. If Vincent was calling, there was probably something going on back in Kalm. Cloud knew that Vincent would never try to make him hash out the Tifa situation, like Cid kept doing, but he probably wouldn't be calling on his own behalf, either. Vincent hated phones. "Vincent?"

"Cloud? Hello."

"Hi. What's going on?"

"I won't bother with small talk, Cloud. Tifa called me early this morning." Cloud inwardly groaned. "She's rather upset."

"Vincent, I—"

"It has little to do with you," Vincent said without rancour, "she's just been experiencing some unpleasant dreams as of late. Nightmares, really."

Cloud remained quiet.

"It's really disquieted her. I think you should call."

"Look, Vincent, I'm sure she told you what was going on with us. If I call, it'll just make things worse. Last time I tried, she wouldn't even speak to me. What am I supposed to do?"

"Cloud, let me explain her dreams. Is that all right with you?"

Cloud sighed. "Yeah, okay…"

Vincent told Cloud what Tifa had related to him. As the older man's story went on, Cloud felt icy fear grip his heart. The dream was more than familiar to him- for a week now, he'd been having the exact same nightmare. He stopped Vincent in the middle of a sentence. "This is exactly what she told you?"

"Yes, she—"

"She dreamed she was me?"

"Yes."

"And you?"

"Cloud, yes. What are you—"

"Did _you_ have a dream like this?" Cloud demanded.

"No."

"You're sure?"

"I'm entirely sure, Cloud. As it is, I haven't slept in three days. How would I dream?"

"Oh, man…" Cloud slumped over in the bed. He gazed at his crossed leg and noticed his free hand was shaking slightly. Making a fist, he continued, "All right. I'll head back to Kalm and talk to her."

"Cloud, there's one more thing." Vincent's voice sounded more unsure than usual. "I believe it's important."

"Yeah?"

"You know how I have the Cait Sith in my room?"

"Yeah, and I still think it's kind of gross."

"Cloud, be silent and listen." Vincent was more normal now. "It's been static ever since the destruction of Meteor, as you know. Well, after Tifa called me, I went out to watch the sunrise. When I came back it…" Vincent stopped for a minute, as if searching for the right word. "…it seemed…alive again."

"Really?" Cloud leapt to his feet.

"Not the way it used to be, but its eyes seemed less dark, as if it were just waking up. When I went over to investigate…a fortune popped out of the Mog."

"Holy shit."

"Yes, that was pretty much my reaction, as well. I have it here. May I read it to you?"

"Of course."

"'347 Poplar Building, Sector Six.' Does that mean anything?"

A wave of disappointment washed over Cloud, and he slumped back onto the chair. "Dammit, no. I mean, it's a Wall Market address, that's clear, but what does that mean these days?"

"I don't know, but it's a spooky coincidence. You two having these dreams, and then Cait Sith coming back to…well, not life, but you know what I mean."

"God. 347 Poplar Building? What is that?"

"Not sure. I believe we should investigate, don't you?"

"Yeah, you're probably right." Cloud scratched his ankle, worry gnawing at him like a maggot. "I can be in Kalm by later tonight. Should I have Cid pick you up, too?'

"Yes, thank you. I think we have much to talk about."

* * *

Tifa was waiting nervously in the living room when she heard familiar voices out on the front walk. Three steps, a knock, and then the door opened. "Tifa?"

She stood up. Tifa was wearing a new dress- sort of a rosy pink, short, but not too short. The color set off her skin and dark hair, and she took a little comfort in knowing that she looked lovely, even if her intestines were wrestling in her gut. "Cloud? Come in."

He pushed the door further open and looked at her for a minute before crossing the floor and pulling her into a hug. Tifa hugged back, pleasantly surprised to see the warmth in his eyes, and even more surprised that she wasn't throwing herself into his embrace. _I can handle this_, she thought. "Cloud, I…"

Cloud stepped back and put a hand on her cheek. "Later?"

"Of course." Tifa turned to the door and threw a big smile at Vincent. "Vin, hi, thank you so much."

"Certainly." The dark-haired man seemed slightly uncomfortable witnessing their greeting, but Tifa insisted on giving him a hug as well. "I thought I should come along. I, too, would like some answers."

"Fair enough," Tifa said, giving him an extra squeeze. "You look good, Vin. I haven't seen you in too long."

She looked up at him, expecting a response, but Vincent's eyes were evasive, troubled. Some of her good humour flattened, and she backed away. "Well, ah…are we going tonight?"

"Can we go tomorrow?" Cloud asked. "It's pretty late. If this is someone's home we're going to, I doubt they'll appreciate us barging in at bedtime."

Vincent looked at him, then at Tifa. _Oh, I see_… "Of course."

Tifa got a spare blanket from the linen closet and handed it t Vincent. "Are you all right on the couch?"

"Yes, thank you." Vincent sat down on the couch, placing the folded blanket next to him. "Goodnight."

Upstairs in the bedroom, Tifa stood with her arms crossed. Her body was towards Cloud, but she couldn't quite look him in the eyes. "So. We need to talk."

"Can you at least come over here and sit down?" Tifa glanced over at him. Cloud was sitting on the bed. He noticed her looking and patted the space next to him. "Come on, please? I know you're angry, but I'm glad to see you."

Tifa sighed, but she crossed the room and took a seat next to Cloud, smoothing her dress over her hips. "All right. Better?"

"Much. Thanks." She could feel his eyes on her. "You look fantastic."

"Thank you. Can we talk about the important stuff now, please?" It gave her a perverse pleasure to hear his admiration, but her anger was strong enough to prevent her from feeling any warmth at his remark.

Now it was Cloud's turn to sigh. "Tifa, look. We haven't been happy in a while. Every time we get into a discussion, it ends up becoming an argument about each others' shortcomings. You're not pleased with how I react to things, and I'm not crazy about how you can be, either."

Tifa's chest felt tight, her throat almost closing. "I never said that."

"I know you didn't, but I also know you well enough that I can tell when you're not happy." Cloud put his hand over hers and squeezed. "Admit it, Tifa, you'd be better off with someone more…sensitive."

She laid her head on his shoulder. "Maybe. That doesn't mean I don't still want us to work."

"Do you think wanting it work is enough to make it work?"

Tifa thought for a minute. Her heart was so heavy in her chest, she was afraid it would splash into her stomach.

Taking advantage of her silence, Cloud pressed on. "Tifa, don't you think it's kind of telling that we've lived together for almost two years without once saying 'I love you'? Or talking about the future?"

"Well…"

"You're my best friend, Tifa. I can't imagine life without you, but I don't think we can continue as we have been." Cloud put his arm around her and looked into her eyes. Tifa stared into his with sadness, regret…and a little relief. "Can we try just being friends for a while, please?"

She was quiet at first, then said, "You know, if you'd been this forthcoming with your feelings in the first place, we wouldn't be having this conversation right now."

Cloud looked chagrined for a moment. Then, a smile broke out on his face and he began to laugh. "You're absolutely right about that."


	2. On the Move

There was a shuttle bus between Kalm and Midgar that some independent company had set up a few months back. Not much was really rebuilt, even after two years, but several people in Kalm and Midgar had begun the slow process of making life move forward again. Tifa wanted to take the bus; it was only fifteen gil per person and the seats were pretty comfortable. Vincent disagreed.

"It's not safe."

"HOW is it not safe, Vincent? I took it once before. It was fine!"

Vincent pushed back a hank of thick dark hair and adjusted his shirt. In an attempt to cover his prosthetic hand, he had put on a huge grey sweater that hung almost to his knees and a pair of thick black work gloves. He was also wearing sunglasses, even though it was a cloudy day and they were going to spending it in lower Midgar, where the sun barely penetrated. Tifa thought he might be overreacting a bit.

"I just don't want us to be visible, that's all."

"Yeah, but won't three people traveling alone be more conspicuous than three more passengers on a tourist bus?" Cloud asked, trying to fit his sword into a guitar case. He succeeded in getting all but the last three inches in. "Dammit, Tifa, don't you know anyone who plays the bass?"

"Try wrapping the tip in something and just closing it as much as you can," Tifa suggested, "it's a soft case."

"No," Vincent said in response to Cloud's query, "I think it would be better to stay away from large groups of people."

"Why?"

The dark-haired man remained silent. Cloud pressed on. "Vincent, do you know something we don't?"

Vincent looked askance. "It's just…that address. It's a bad part of town."

"So?" asked Tifa. "All of Midgar's a bad part of town."

"I know, but it's just…well, that used to be a building that a lot of ex-Shinra lived in. It probably doesn't mean anything anymore, but there are some people at the Canyon who just moved there from lower Midgar, and one of them told me that they've seen several rescue workers in the worst areas wearing…well, wearing Shinra Incorporated uniforms."

Cloud looked quickly at Tifa. Shock was written all over her face. "What?" she gasped. 'But…but _how_? Who can be leading them? Everyone who was in charge of Shinra's dead!"

Vincent shifted uncomfortably. "Everyone who _was _ in charge, Tifa. Not everyone who could be."

"I don't get it," she said, sitting down on the couch with a thump

"We have to go either way," Cloud said. "There's no point in worrying about this right now, Tifa, okay? First we go to the address, then we can investigate the Shinra."

"Don't you get it?" Tifa asked sharply. "It's a trick. It must be! The remaining Shinra must have gotten ahold of Reeve's communications technology and are trying to lure us into a trap!"

The two men weighed this in their minds carefully. Cloud was torn between pushing ahead regardless, and taking off for some more obscure area and lying low until they knew exactly what was going on. Vincent felt the group needed to get the mission over with, but was worried enough to take as many measures as he could.

He was the first to speak. "I think we need to go."

"I want to know what you meant by 'could,' Vin." Tifa demanded.

Vincent tried to evade her suddenly steely eyes, but Tifa was insistent. "Vincent! What the hell are you trying to pull?"

"All right," he said quietly, "but I need you to promise me you won't have a conniption fit when you hear this." Tifa nodded grudgingly and adjusted herself on the couch. Cloud sat next to her. "Rufus Shinra was not the only heir to the Shinra fortune. He had a younger sister, Leslie."

Tifa's face grew grave. "I never knew that."

"She was a bit of a black sheep, from what I remember. I was quite a bit older than she was, but I remember her father talking about her. It seems there was some minor scandal with a member of the Turks who was quite a bit older than she was- my boss, actually. John Renaldo." Vincent shook his head. "I never expected her to resurface, but it seems likely that she has."

"Damn," Cloud muttered under his breath. Aloud, he said, "What makes you think she cares about us? It's been two years since we last had any contact with the Shinra. I mean, we saved the Planet. Shouldn't they leave us alone for that, at least?"

"Who knows about that?" Tifa asked.

It was a simple question, but it stunned all three into silence. They had come so far, done so much- saved an entire world, and yet here they were, anonymous, mere wastes of carbon in a sea of crushing bodies. No one knew what they had accomplished, and although none of them particularly wanted any kind of recognition, it was a sobering thought to realize that while they were responsible for the life of every person on that planet, not one soul knew where its saviour had come from. Even worse was the realization that the one group of people who may have had an inkling, Shinra Inc., didn't care one bit where their lives came from.

"Yeah…I still don't get why they'd be pissed." Cloud said."I mean, it's not like they're watching us through the windows or anything. Why get paranoid now?"

"Well, I'm still against going," Tifa replied stubbornly. "There's clearly some kind of trouble waiting for us. It would be stupid to run into it head-first. I say we wait and try to figure out what's going on!"

"Oh, so waiting for something to come and get us is better than facing it?"

"I didn't _say_ that, dammit, I just meant—"

"And I'm going whether you two are or not," Vincent said with a vehemence that surprised the other two. "Do you understand me? I have better things to do than listen to people bicker." Cloud and Tifa stared at him, open-mouthed. "Got it? Good." the older man finished.

The group remained angrily silent for a moment before Cloud, heaving a massive sigh, picked up the guitar case. "Fine," he grumbled, "but take off those stupid gloves, okay?"

* * *

Cid was looking over plans for a new store some local farmers wanted to build in Highwind when the phone rang. "Shera!" he yelled. "Hey, Shera, you by the phone?"

"Yes, Captain," came her reply.

"Call me Cid, goddammit!"

Shera didn't say anything in response. Cid mumbled a little to himself as he surveyed his paperwork. Highwind was shaping up to be one hell of a town, in his opinion. It had blossomed in the two years since the Jenova crisis, and he was rather proud of his work. Of course, his friends accused him of having a massive ego, but Cid preferred to think of it as unflappable self-confidence. It was also quite pleasant, having a town named after him. That hadn't been his doing, either, but he liked the compliment just the same.

"Cap…err, Cid?"

Cid looked up, irritated at being interrupted at his work, but his irritation was suddenly struck very still. Shera was standing in the doorframe between the main room and the hallway, her hands outstretched, fingertips touching either wall. The back door had been left open, and the afternoon sun was streaming in. The golden rays illuminated every swirling mote of dust in the air, and lit Shera from the back, turning her brown hair bronze and lending a delicate rosiness to her fair skin. Cid had never before seen Shera as beautiful, had always thought her mousy and plain, but something about the way her colouring responded to sunlight struck him as suddenly as lightning.

"Cid?"

He shook his head. "Jeez, Shera, I don't know where my mind is. Who's on the phone?"

She came out of the light and stood nervously in the cooler darkness of the main room. "I…I don't know. It was a man's voice, but it was all garbled."

"Prank call?"

"No, it was…he said he had a message for you. Whoever it was, they said, 'tell your friend Highwind to keep his papers in order. We'll be by to pick them up shortly.' Then they hung up." Anxiety was plain in her face. "What should I do?"

"Don't do a damn thing," Cid said roughly. "I'll take all the calls today, all right? Cancel my meeting with the Shopkeeper's Guild; tell them I'll let them know when I can reschedule." He stood up and started violently stacking papers.

"What do you think it means?" Shera asked, uneasily tugging at a strand of hair that had fallen from her ponytail.

"I don't know," Cid said grimly, "but I'm sure as shit not leaving my papers around until I do. Get the rest of the files and hide them."

"Where?"

"Anywhere!" he roared. Shera jumped a bit, but nodded and ran into the storeroom. Cid heard her rapidly opening and closing the drawers of the filing cabinet, then realized something. Arms filled with documents, he ran in. "Wait, don't take them all out."

Shera paused, a messy sheaf of papers sliding from her outstretched hand. Doubling over to pick it up, she said, "What do you mean?"

Cid was thinking madly. "Take out the important shit- the Defence League contracts, the records of how we run this place without Mako reactors. If someone does show up looking for my stuff, they won't find anything significant."

"Okay!" Shera started scrabbling in the drawer. "Got 'em. Should we leave financial records?"

"Yeah, okay. Take out anything related to the stuff I just mentioned, and leave everything else in there- and lock that cabinet!" Cid started looking around for a hiding place.

Shera picked out the rest of the files, slammed the drawers shut, and started fumbling in her pants pocket for the key. Cid ran out into the hallway and looked around frantically. What wouldn't be obvious? The television stand? The kitchen cabinets?

"Captain!" Shera was behind him, panting. "I have an idea! We can put them at my place!"

"Your place?"

She pushed her glasses back onto her nose with one finger of her free hand. "Yes; I still have that apartment in Rocket Heights. I've been storing my winter clothes there."

"Shera!" Cid grabbed her and enveloped the startled woman in a massive bear hug. "You're goddamn brilliant, you know that? Great! Go now!" He released the blushing Shera and thrust the documents into her arms. "Stay there, okay? If somethin' bad's going down, I don't want you to be in danger."

Shera blinked twice, nodded, and ran out. Cid slammed and locked the door after her, then rushed to the back and did the same. "Sons of bitches!"

He picked up the phone and dialled Tifa's place in Kalm, but there was no answer. He let it ring eight times before slamming the receiver down, then picking it up again and dialling Barret in Corel.

Barret picked up after three rings. Cid started talking before he could even say hello. "Barret, it's Cid. We need to talk in person?"

"The hell you talkin' about?" Barret's voice crackled over the phone. "What's going on? You okay?"

"I think so, but I need to see you. We can't talk over the phone. I'm going to fly over to Corel, all right?"

"Yeah, okay…when can you be here?" Barret sounded wary.

"Be there by nightfall, all right?"

"Yeah."

"Okay. Bye."

* * *

It was late afternoon by the time Cloud, Vincent, and Tifa arrived, sweaty and tired, at the gates of Midgar. The sun had peaked and the day had become extremely warm in spite of the morning's sullen coolness. Vincent had by then shed his massive sweater and one glove, and was carrying them in his prosthetic hand. Tifa had donned a hat and a bulky, long-sleeved shirt herself, but she rolled up her sleeves halfway from Kalm and the hat was long discarded. Cloud was feeling fine, mainly because he refused to overdress just to disguise himself. "It's just going to be more conspicuous if we look like we're hiding something," he had argued. Tifa and Vincent had just rolled their eyes in response, but still felt his idea was the best one.

Now Tifa bent over, stretching her back. "Uggh," she moaned. "My spine feels like it's been permanently twisted." She dropped the bag of items she'd been carrying and dropped her head forward, raising both arms to the level of her shoulders and, clasping her hands together, pulling them forward. "How many Turbo Ethers do we really need?"

Cloud laughed, looking at Vincent to see if the older man was amused. However, Vincent wasn't laughing. He was staring at Tifa with an expression Cloud had never seen before- that is to say, an expression. Period. "Hey, Vincent."

"Hnng?" Vincent seemed far away.

"Vincent!"

"What!" the taller man said sharply, too sharply, whipping his head around to face Cloud. Taken aback at his vehemence, Cloud took a step back. "Err…nothing. Nothing. How…you doing?"

Tifa turned around to give Cloud a perplexed look. Vincent cocked an eyebrow. Embarrassed, Cloud coughed into his hand. "Well…let's mosey."

Vincent turned away, staring to put his sweater back on. Tifa shook her head as she faced Midgar and began walking again. "You guys are weird."

After Tifa had moved a few feet ahead of the two men, Cloud playfully grabbed Vincent's shoulder. "Hey, Vincent."

"What," Vincent said flatly, looking straight ahead as he walked.

"Vincent, I hate to ask, but were you just…"

"No," Vincent hissed. Taken aback, Cloud moved his hand from his shoulder.

"Hey, it's okay, I just—"

"Cloud, I am finished with this subject." With that, Vincent sped up until he was walking a few steps behind Tifa, his shoulders hunched unhappily around his ears. Cloud stood still for a minute, surprise washing over him.

Vincent had a thing for Tifa. Why hadn't he seen it before? Cloud looked back over the time Vincent had spent with the group. Now that he really thought about it, Vincent had always treated Tifa differently. He was less cold, much less likely to dismiss her and actually listen than he was to anyone else. She was pretty much the only member of AVALANCHE he kept in close contact with, and ever since Cloud and Tifa had started living together Vincent had treated him differently. Before, Cloud would have counted the older man as a good friend. Things seemed to have changed since them. He still thought of Vincent as an ally, but Cloud suddenly realized how far the rift was between them…and why.

As the trio reached the gate, Tifa reached into the sack and pulled the Key to Midgar out of the secret compartment the group kept their more important items in. "Think we'll need this?" she asked sceptically, turning it over in her hands.

"Doubt it," Cloud said, raising one foot. He aimed a solid kick right at the high iron gate.

Suddenly, Cloud's whole body was whipped into the air. The guitar case holding his sword went flying, and before Tifa or Vincent could react, he hit the dust and was run up against the gate. "Shit!" he yelled, scrabbling on the ground.

"Cloud!" Tifa cried, running over to him. She grasped both his hands and started pulling with all her might.

"It's got me!"

"What has?"

"I don't know! Some kind of—awp!" Cloud's body was lifted again, shaking Tifa off and sending her tumbling across the ground. She raised her head to see the blonde man held aloft by some kind of thick, dark cable. Just as Tifa had gotten to her feet and begun running towards it again, there was a bang, a screech, and Cloud was unceremoniously dropped into the dirt. The cable snaked back behind the gate as quickly as it had appeared. Tifa turned to see Vincent, his gun aimed at where the thing had been, a small wisp of smoke rising from it.

"Good job," she said breathlessly.

Cloud had picked himself up and run back over to where the other two stood. "Thanks, Vincent," he said, a note of panic in his voice.

Vincent holstered his gun. "What in hell was that?"

Cloud shook his head. "I didn't exactly get a chance to look."

"It was some kind of snake or tentacle or something," Tifa said. "It has to have been. Where did it come from?"

"Behind the wall, certainly." Vincent said. "Other than that, I couldn't tell."

All three stared back at the gates, but they were as silent as ever. "Weird…" Tifa said in a low voice. "What do we do now?"

"Well, I'm sure as hell not trying to go in that way again," Cloud responded, rubbing a bruised arm.

"Let me see if I brought a rope," Tifa said, rifling through the bag. "We could try scaling the wall that way."

It turned out that Tifa had indeed brought some rope, but after fifteen minutes of futilely trying to catch the loop over one of the support poles a ways from the gate, it wasn't quite long enough to reach the ground.

"Okay, so now what?" Cloud asked.

Tifa thought for a minute. "Vincent, can you turn into Chaos? You could fly up and grab the end of the rope, and we could sit on your shoulders."

Vincent sighed. "Yes, that would work. Give me a minute, please." He walked a little ways away from the other two and sat down on the ground, staring out towards the sea.

Tifa put her hand on Cloud's shoulder. "Are you okay?"

Cloud nodded and put his hand over hers. "I'm all right. Mostly, that just scared the hell out of me." He looked down at her. "Tifa, have you ever talked to Vincent about Lucrecia?"

Tifa looked surprised. "No, of course not. I thought it would make him too sad." She looked over at Vincent, who was hunched over with his hands over his ears. "I remember when we found her in that cave, he had this look on his face like everything might turn out all right. Then when we went back to get her later, when she was gone…" Tifa lowered her head. "I thought he was going to have a heart attack. That was the first time we saw him transform into Chaos, remember?"

"Yeah, I remember."

"I thought to myself," Tifa continued, "after that happened, I mean, I thought about it, and I decided that maybe she was the catalyst for that. His morphing into Chaos, I mean. So, I just never thought it was a good idea to bring her up."

A snarl from where Vincent had been sitting made both of them snap their heads up. The Chaos beast was coming towards them. "Okay," Cloud said, "we'd better do this quickly."

Just before Chaos reached them, it made a sharp turn and stood still for just a minute. Knowing the level of mental control Vincent must be exercising in order to remain master of his movements, Cloud and Tifa grabbed ahold of the monster's arms the minute they could. At their touch, Chaos took off immediately, running in bounds towards the rope, almost too fast for the others to keep holding on. They weren't far from the wall, so it wasn't long before Chaos leapt up and grasped the rope, scrambling up the wall and flapping its wings. Cloud got a good faceful before they had reached the top of the wall. The beast stopped for a minute, looked around, then jumped down into the murk of the Midgar streets.

* * *

"It was a stupid idea to take this bus," Elena grumbled, pushing her sunglasses up to her forehead.

Reno pushed them back down harshly, so that the young woman squeaked in pain. "It's a stupider idea to show your face," he said in the quietest voice he could muster.

Reno and Elena, wearing the garb of peasant farmers, had caught the Midgar-Kalm shuttle bus from Sector 3. It hadn't been Reno's idea- he would have much preferred to walk over being crowded together with a hundred smelly strangers on a crowded bus- but President Shinra had insisted, on the off chance one of their targets was travelling with them. Rude had been permitted to take a motorbike and explore the general area, in order to track down anyone who might be going back and forth on foot. There were to meet in Kalm the following evening.

Although Reno didn't like much about Leslie Shinra- besides her figure, that is- he had to admit he respected her. The woman had appeared out of nowhere, fresh from her family's private beach house at Costa Del Sol, and had assembled the fragmented corporation within a matter of weeks. Before she came into Midgar, Reno, Elena, and Rude had been living in the old train tunnels and eating canned food. A few former Shinra employees had found their way down there as well, and the group assumed the form of an autonomous collective for a month or so. The Turks were nominally in charge, but Reno privately believed that the little community would have disbanded if Leslie Shinra had not come looking for them.

_Reno was slouched against a concrete post in the tunnels, half-dozing. The people scraping by in the tunnels took turns keeping a lookout for monsters and looters, and it was his turn to stand guard, although he wasn't paying much attention. He had just begun the slow slide into a wary sleep when he heard someone clear their throat directly in front on him._

_His head lowered, Reno opened his eyes and saw a pair of tanned woman's feet, the toes an immaculate field of shiny red, shod in expensive-looking gold stilettos. Reno's gaze traveled up, taking in a pair of long, tawny legs, a nicely-shaped lower half clad in a pricey green suit, breasts like cabbages crammed into a matching jacket, and, finally, a haughty, yet familiar face topped with strawberry-blonde hair. The first words out of Reno's mouth were, "how much do you charge?"_

_The mysterious woman's eyes were hidden in the dimness of the tunnels. "I doubt very much that you could afford me," she said in a scratchy voice, "but I happen to know your annual salary is three hundred thousand gil, Mr. Reno."_

_Reno's sleepy eyes snapped open. He took a second look at the beauty in front of him. Yes, that shade of blonde in her hair, the pale blue of her eyes…"Leslie Shinra?"_

_"Madame President to you, please." She took a pack of cigarettes and a lighter out of her gold chain-mesh purse and lit one. Reno's nose twitched and he inhaled reflexively as the smell of tobacco smoke reached his nostrils. "Oh, would you like one?"_

_Reno's mouth was watering. "Yes, ma'am, please," he said, hoping she couldn't hear the desperation in his voice. It had been two weeks since his last cigarette, and he had been craving them ever since._

_Leslie Shinra handed him the pack and the lighter without a word. Reno's hands were almost shaking as he flicked the lighter and inhaled a lungful of nicotine for the first time in a long time. When the sweet haze of relief had abided some, he asked, "how did you find us?"_

_She shrugged. "I still have connections, Reno. The one thing my worthless brother did properly was put all our information in order and send it to me, in case of emergency. I knew there were still Turks in Midgar when that White Materia incident happened, and I knew all the escape routes from the Shinra Building led down here. It was a matter of time and money, and I had enough of the latter to make the former not matter." Leslie held out her hand, and Reno dropped the cigarettes and lighter into it with a feeling of regret. "So. Is your little adventure in the underworld over with? Are you ready to get back to work?"_

_"Yes, ma'am," Reno said, his voice betraying a little more relief than he had wanted. _

_"Excellent." _

...and they had come out of the tunnels, first in secret, then flagrantly. Two weeks after everyone had grudgingly come to the surface, she had convinced some of the more attractive former secretaries to go to the local areas and ask around, seeing who was willing to join a rebuilding corps. The girls didn't mention Shinra Inc., and the workers didn't' say anything about where they came from, once they found out who they were working for. After a couple months, when the Shinra Relief and Rebuilding Force had become familiar and trusted faces, _then_ they started wearing uniforms with the Shinra logo on them. Some people began objecting, but most residents were grateful enough for the food and shelter the new Shinra Inc. provided that the Turks very rarely had any problems.

However, that sure as hell didn't mean that Reno enjoyed being stuck on a two-hour bus ride next to Elena.

"How are we gonna sniff them out?" Elena asked, brushing her bangs back from her forehead.

Reno shrugged. "Not the way we used to be able to, that's for sure. We're gonna have to be nice to people. Ask around the local shops and taverns, maybe try to get ahold of some of the real estate establishments in town. If they're in an apartment, we'll find out which buildings those are. If there's a house, we'll try to get the location." He slouched in his seat and pulled the tacky straw farmer hat over his eyes. "I'm going to sleep now."

Elena sighed and looked out the window.


	3. Vendetta?

It took Vincent half an hour to come down from his Chaos rage. Cloud and Tifa sensibly hid behind a pile of rubble until he reverted to his normal state, and hashed out their plan of action. When the sounds of roaring and snarling had ceased, Cloud poked his head out from behind a junked truck and appraised the situation. Vincent was standing stock-still, looking confused, several of Midgar's unsavoury pests lying dead at his feet. "Over here," Cloud called. Vincent nodded at him and gestured for him and Tifa to come over.

As they walked towards him, Tifa murmured, "This wasn't really fair of me to ask, was it?"

"It was the only idea we came up with," Cloud responded quietly, "and it worked. I'm sure he doesn't resent you for it."

Still, Tifa's tone was apologetic when she said, "Vincent, that was too much to ask of you. I'm really sorry."

"Not at all," Vincent responded, brushing some dust off his sweater. "It was a good plan. I don't mind."

"Are you sure?"

Vincent waved away her apologies and put on his dark glasses. Cloud frowned. He knew Vincent did, in fact, mind quite a bit, that the shapeshifting had become painful for him lately. However, he kept quiet. _You coward, _he thought, _you want them together because it makes things easier for you_.

"Cloud?"

Tifa's voice broke into his thoughts. "Yeah, I'm listening, sorry," he said.

"I was just telling Vincent that you and I think we should split up," she said. "We all have a PHS, right?" The men nodded. "Okay, then. Are we good with this?"

"Who's going where?" Vincent asked.

"Well, we were thinking. We're only looking in Sector Six, right? So, there are three main areas people there could be living in: the Honeybee Inn area, the apartments above shops in Wall Market, and there are a few apartment buildings not too far from Don Corneo's old mansion." Tifa took a small map of Midgar out of the bag and pointed out the places in question.

"I know where it is, though," Vincent interjected. "Why can't we all go together?"

Cloud cleared his throat. 'There's…somewhere I'd like to visit," he said. Vincent looked at him in surprise, but Tifa slid her eyes away, looking slightly peeved. "The church in Sector Five where I first met Aerith," he explained to the older man. "I want to go back and see if it's still there."

"So, you and I can just go to Sector Six," Tifa responded, finishing his sentence. "Okay, Vin?"

"That makes sense, I suppose," Vincent said. "When shall we meet?"

"You call when you find what we're looking for," Cloud replied. "I won't be anywhere but her church."

* * *

"You seemed upset when he said he was going to Sector Five," Vincent remarked. He and Tifa were weaving their way amongst the vast piles of refuse that made up lower Midgar. It was not easy going; the damage done during Weapon's attack on the city had, of course, hit the lower levels worst, and Tifa was having a very hard time finding her way around. The only good thing about the devastation wracked upon Midgar was that the upper plates were damaged as well, letting precious sky become visible to the underlayers. Tifa remembered her late teens in Sector Seven, the street kids who had never seen sky in their lives- and probably never did. Fervently, she hoped that Midgar would continue to crumble, that the whole hideous place would disappear into the ground.

"I think 'upset' is a little strong," she replied, checking a mound of trash for signs of whatever had grabbed Cloud. So far, they hadn't seen anything, but she wasn't taking chances. "It's just that I know how Cloud felt about Aerith, and combined with us breaking things off, it was just insensitive of him to mention it."

They continued picking their way through the garbage. Neither said anything for a few minutes before Vincent said gently, "If I may be so bold, Tifa, it always seemed to me as if Aerith was more interested in Cloud than he was in her…and that he is insensitive in general."

Tifa stopped and stared at him. Indignant words bubbled up in her throat, but instead of defending Cloud's behaviour, she just turned away and continued walking. There was another long stretch of silence before she said, "Well, you've always been down on Cloud, Vin."

"I haven't."

"Yes, you have!" Tifa felt the blood rushing to her cheeks as she grabbed Vincent's arm, forcing him to stop and look at her. "Do you realize that every time I've complained to you about Cloud, you've turned it into an extreme?"

"I'm only going on what you have told me, you know," Vincent said calmly. "You only seemed to mention the negative parts of your relationship to me."

"Look, I'm sick of discussing Cloud altogether, okay?" The lights of Wall Market blazed about half a kilometre ahead. "You know, I don't tell you everything!"

Vincent didn't say anything in response. Miffed, Tifa sped up, trying to put a little distance between them. She wasn't angry at Vincent for his opinion so much as annoyed that her feelings about Cloud going to the church in Sector Five had apparently been so transparent. Tifa didn't know why discussing Cloud with Vincent irked her so much, but she was confused and tired, and not much in the mood for inward reflection.

Presently, Wall Market loomed in front of them. Tifa stopped for a minute to take inventory of what items she had brought- earlier, she had thrown in some simple Magic materia, but she couldn't quite find it. She was rummaging in the bag when she heard Vincent say, in his emotionless, flat voice, "So, the famous Wall Market outlasted everything."

"Greed's awfully hard to kill," Tifa responded, her head practically in the bag. "Vin, did you take the Fire materia? I can't find it."

He didn't respond, which Tifa took to be a "no." "Never thought I'd see this dump again," she continued.

Vincent's voice was low when he replied, "Me, neither." She looked at him. "I have not been here in nearly thirty years." His expression behind those dark glasses was unreadable, his tone as calm as always. "You know, there is not one thing that looks different to me."

"You okay?" Tifa asked.

"Fine, thank you." Vincent looked at her. She could see the sleazy glow of the neon signs reflected in the opaque glasses. "The question is, are you?"

Tifa looked away. "Yeah, I'm all right." She looked down at the ground, hands in the pocket of her shorts. "Hey, Vin, do you mind if we split up? I want a moment alone to think."

He didn't say anything for a few minutes. "I know exactly where the Poplar Building is, though."

"I know." Tifa kept her eyes on the ground. She heard Vincent sigh.

"All right," he finally said, "but stay in touch with me. The Poplar Building is west of here, near Midgar Food Court. I'll give you a five-minute head start. Is that acceptable?"

Now, she looked at him, and managed a smile. "Thanks for understanding, Vincent."

He gave no response, merely turned away to face the ruined façade of a pillar. Sensing her cue, Tifa walked away in the direction he had indicated.

No one ever would have known there had been any kind of disaster in Midgar, looking at the people in Wall Market. Innkeepers shouted at her, waving their arms in order to attract her attention. The various motley stalls still housed loud, red-faced matrons, bargaining madly with customers over the prices for weapons, clothing, materia. Even the Honey Bee Inn seemed to be up and running, despite the death of its owner at Wutai two years ago. Tifa averted her eyes from the garishly-painted girls, cooing and undulating at the passers-by.

She studied her map again. "West" was all Vincent had said, but she couldn't go much farther west than she already had. Maybe the building was one of those unique to Midgar architecture- not on a street per se, but attached to an unpleasant alleyway off a main road. With a slight feeling of trepidation, she flattened herself against the wall and inched over to the entrance to the nearest alley, the peeked into it cautiously. The rusting fire escapes dripped nasty water onto the piles of soggy trash, and Tifa saw a big rat run across it and into a dumpster, but it seemed otherwise deserted. She proceeded warily.

That alley led her to a mucky courtyard, lined with a row of burnt-out sheds. It looked like Weapon had hit this part particularly badly. Tifa took a look inside some of the ruins, but nothing useful turned up. She went back out and tried another side street. Besides the back doors to several seedy establishments, and the leering bouncers who manned them, it presented no difficulties. However, it also didn't present much in the way of evidence.

After half an hour of futile searching, Tifa was getting annoyed. She took the PHS out of her bag, but the weird metal constructs of lower Midgar made getting a signal quite difficult. "Shit," she muttered under her breath. Her eyes on the PHS's screen, Tifa ducked back into an alleyway and started making her way towards the main drag. The little device let out a confused-sounding _bleep_ and started flashing, meaning Tifa was getting a call, but when she raised it to her ear and pressed the TALK button, nothing happened. "Hello? Hello? Vin? Cloud? Hey, can anyone hear me?"

Her focus on the PHS, Tifa didn't notice the slight rustling noises coming form behind her. "Hey, Cloud, if you can hear me, I'm lost, but I'm going back out to Wall Market," she yelled into the phone, probably louder than necessary.

Suddenly, the rustling became louder, and Tifa froze. She spun around, fists out—but no one was there. With her elbows out and fists still raised, Tifa turned a slow, careful circle, but didn't notice anything out of the ordinary.

After a few minutes of standing in the ready position, Tifa lowered her guard and focused her attention on the PHS again. The machine was still beeping and flickering at her. Tifa reached down with one hand to pick up her dropped bag, the other frantically punching buttons. 'Oh, come on, you stupid thing," she muttered, taking a few steps forward, "work, would you?"

All of a sudden, something crashed down in front of Tifa with a loud thump. Her head jerked up and the PHS clattered to the ground as she began bringing her fists into the ready position, but a long, thick, snakelike thing shot up from the ground and wrapped itself around her wrists. Before she got a chance to react, her ankles were similarly shackled. Tifa screamed for all she was worth, but the sound was absorbed by the thick brick walls around her. She brought her arms and legs together violently, hoping to shake the alien appendages, but they held her fast and slammed her against the ground, much like they had to Cloud. Tifa swiftly realized what was going to happen, but she simply couldn't break free as the tentacles sent her flying into a brick wall at top speed.

* * *

The air was thick and golden with sunlight. Cloud was kneeling in the ruined church, in the aisle between each row of shattered pews. Before him, the splintered floorboard gave way to a semicircle of pink and yellow flowers growing in lush abandon, their insistent, dense foliage pressing against the rotting wood of the floor. Cloud wondered if it was coincidence that the flowers bloomed in the dead centre of the church floor, under the jagged hole that he had left in the roof two years ago.

Before he reached the church, Cloud had thought of nothing but getting there, but now that he was inside…well, he was unsure about his insistence. In the back of his mind, he thought Aerith would be there, somehow…

"You'd know what to tell me about Tifa, if you were here," he murmured aloud. "How to be what she wants."

_"Why don't you just ask her?"_

_Cloud opened his eyes. Aerith was sitting directly in front of him, so close that he would see the faint freckles on her cheeks._

_"What is there to ask?"_

_Aerith floated up a few inches. Her smile was as warm, the mischief in her green eyes as vivid as ever. "Well, what she wants, silly!"_

_Cloud shook his head. "What if I don't want to be with Tifa?"_

_"You'll have to tell her yourself!" Aerith shook her head at him. "Jeez, Cloud, of all people, I never thought you'd be one to beat around the bush! She probably just wants you to tell her what _you're_ looking for!"_

Cloud opened his eyes and sat up with a jerk. The church was dark, silent except for the skittering of night creatures. _How long have I been asleep?_ he wondered, hastily grabbing the PHS and flipping it open. Eight missed calls, all from Vincent. _Fantastic_.

When the older man picked up, Cloud was surprised to hear a note of panic in his normally level voice. "Cloud? Is Tifa with you?"

"What? No, I thought she was with you," Cloud said, getting to his feet. "Did you guys get separated?"

"She said she wanted to be alone for a while, so I gave her a five-minute head start," Vincent explained, the anxiety in his voice rising. "I didn't think she could get very far in such a short amount of time."

"Shit," Cloud swore under his breath. "Vincent, we've gotta find her! Where are you?"

"The Underplating," he responded. "It's a bar in Wall Market, next to the Honey Bee Inn. Are you still in Sector Five?"

"Yeah, I fell asleep…" Cloud frowned. "…I think."

"Tell me about it when you get here." With that, Vincent clicked off. Cloud punched in the number of Tifa's PHS unit, but she didn't pick up. Swearing again, Cloud unwrapped his sword and, sliding it into the back holster, ran off into the dank Midgar night.

* * *

"…there?"

Tifa moaned.

"Hey, she's making noises." Louder. "Can you hear me? Hello?"

Her head hurt. Tifa attempted to get up, but a stabbing jolt of pain from the back of her head stopped her, and she settled for making another strangled groan.

"Whoa, don't move." It was a woman's voice. "Stay down and keep your eyes closed. I'm gonna get you more ice, okay?"

Tifa heard a few rustling sounds, the tinny hum of a cheap refrigerator, some cracking noises- the woman, or whoever was in there with her, must have been chopping shards of ice off a block- and the quiet sound of something unlocking. Gently, her hand was grasped, and what felt like a plastic bag filled with ice placed into it. "Put that under your head and try to find a comfortable way to lie on it, all right?"

"Thank you," Tifa mumbled.

"I'm turning the lights down a little." The sound of footsteps moved from next to the bed next to what must have been a wall. "When it feels like a level that won't hurt your eyes, open them and tell me if you can see, okay?"

The light slowly began to dim. Tifa waited a few moments before cautiously cracking one lid. When no pain followed, she slowly opened her eyes and said, "Okay."

She was staring at a dingy, water-stained ceiling until a woman's head replaced it. "Can you see my face?"

"Yes."

The woman held up three fingers. "How many fingers?"

"Three."

"Well, you're not brain-damaged, at least." Her head moved out of Tifa's line of vision. "Think you can sit up now?"

Gingerly, Tifa raised her head a few inches, wincing at the resulting pain. She held her head like that until the discomfort it faded to a dull ache, painstakingly raised herself on her elbows, and then moved carefully to a sitting position. "What happened?" she asked, though she had a pretty good idea.

The woman had one of the most purely lovely faces Tifa had ever seen, though it was dirty and had a scrape on one cheek. High cheekbones, a short, straight nose, with full lips. Her eyes were lowered. The woman's hair was a long, tangled mane- deep red, with streaks of blonde. _A true slum flower_, Tifa thought, remembering Wedge's old term for the pretty girls of lower Midgar. "Looks like the Tentacles got you." The stranger's voice had a queer lilt to it, caressing of o's and a bit slurred. "They've become quite a problem lately. Good thing I have Restore material. You might not have made it, otherwise."

"Tentacles?" Tifa tried looking around and found that her neck worked, at least. The room was small, with walls badly in need of paint, but Tifa had seen far worse when she herself had lived in the slums. One wall was entirely taken up by grey lockers of various shapes and sizes; another boasted a rusty sink and rickety-looking stove, along with banged-up cupboards, the doors of which hung down crookedly. Aside from the bed Tifa herself lay on, the chair the woman sat it, and a door that must have led to a bathroom, the room had nothing else. Sad conditions, yes, but it was clean at least, if not particularly attractive.

"Not from Midgar, are you?" The woman crossed her arms and laughed bitterly. "Fucking things appeared two weeks ago. No one knows where they came from, or what caused them, but all of a sudden it isn't safe to walk around anymore." Hearing that, Tifa suddenly realized that, except for Wall Market, she hadn't seen anyone walking about, not the usual crush of people she associated with Midgar. "Only thing that seems to chase them off is a Mako light, but there's damn few of those now that Shinra's out of business." She paused and held out her hand. "I'm Keira Halyenne, by the way."

Tifa took her hand and shook it. "Tifa Lockheart…and thank you."

Keira shrugged, brushing a hank of her messy hair back over her shoulder. "I wouldn't normally bring a complete stranger back here, but I'm not gonna pretend I don't see some poor girl getting the shit kicked out of her by those things."

"It took me completely by surprise," Tifa admitted. "I was trying to answer a call from some friends I came to Midgar with, and I lost track of my surroundings. It was stupid of me."

The other woman stood up and walked over to the kitchen area. She was very tall, Tifa realized, watching her reach for a glass from one cupboard. "Not so stupid," she called back over her shoulder. "It's not like you knew, if you're not from here." Keira attached a small, white contraption to the mouth of the faucet and turned it on, filling the glass with water. "There isn't exactly any kind of press covering stories from here."

Keira walked back over and offered the glass to Tifa. Remembering the foulness of Midgar tap water, Tifa waved it away, but the taller woman shook her head. "It's filtered, I promise. Otherwise, I'd drink my own piss over this stuff."

Tifa took it and suspiciously took a sip, but the water was clear and cold and tasted good. She knocked her head and downed half the glass in one gulp. As she lowered it, she noticed a hint of a smile on Keira's face. "I used to live here," Tifa said.

"Yeah?"

"In Sector Seven."

"Hmm." Keira leaned back in the chair, her arms folded. "Wait, Tifa Lockheart…hey! Did you used to run a bar over there in Seven?"

"Seventh Heaven!" Tifa exclaimed. "That was my place, all right!"

"I went there once," Keira said, "back when I was in school."

"Oh, did you go to Shinra University?" Tifa asked.

The other woman looked to be on the verge of answering her, but a shadow passed over her face. "You could say that, I guess."

Tifa wanted to ask for clarification, but Keira had stood up and moved over to the far wall. "Hey, I found a bag near where you were getting thrashed." She turned to Tifa and held up the sack in question. "Is it yours?"

"Yeah!" Tifa exclaimed. "Thank you so much!" Keira brought it over to the bed and handed it to her. "There's a lot of rare stuff in here," Tifa explained, digging through the bag. She checked the secret compartment with the rare items- untouched- and rifled through the main parts. Everything seemed to be in place, except… "Hey, the materia's gone."

Keira stretched. "Sorry. Was it magic materia?"

Tifa nodded. "Basic stuff, none of it mastered. Odd that someone would take it over the X-Potions or the Turbo Ethers."

"I doubt anyone took it. The tentacles like to steal magic materia," Keira explained. "No one knows why, but it can't be good. They don't seem to want any other kind." She took Tifa's PHS out of her pocket. "Found this, too."

"Oh, thank you!" Tifa breathed, grabbing the PHS and staring at the screen rapturously. "It still works!"

"Better call your friends," Keira said. "I'll be outside, so you can have some privacy."

Tifa waited until the other woman had left the room, then punched in Cloud's number and raised the unit to her ear. Cloud answered midway through the first ring. "Tifa! Is that you? Are you okay? Where are you?"

"Yeah, it's me." Tifa put her hand to the back of her head and winced. "I'm okay. I think."

"What happened?"

"Those tentacle things that grabbed you on the way in," Tifa said, "they're apparently a huge problem here now. I was in Sector Six when they got me." She heard Cloud curse. "It's all right. My head's a bit sore, but I'm otherwise fine. A local woman found me and took me back to her place to recover."

"Holy and the Moon…" Cloud said. "Tifa, I was so worried—"

Tifa felt a rush of pleasure at the concern in his voice. "It's okay, Cloud. I promise you, I'm all right. Where are you and Vincent? Did you find the Poplar Building?"

"I'll explain all that to you when I see you," Cloud said, "We're in Sector Six right now, right outside Wall Market. Can we come get you?"

"I don't know where we are," Tifa said, "but I'll ask. One second." She swung her legs over the side of the bed and lurched ungracefully to her feet, the pain in her head a constant reminder to be careful. Tifa walked over to the door and quietly opened it. Keira was leaning against the wall, staring out at the Midgar darkness and chewing reflectively on a wad of gum. "Um, sorry, Keira, but can you tell me how to get to this place from Wall Market?"

The redhead turned to face Tifa. "Your friends trying to get here from there?" Tifa nodded. "It's better if they don't come this far into Six; Tentacles are more active at night. I can take you out, if you like…"

"Oh, that's not necessary—"

Keira fixed her with a particularly steely gaze. Although Tifa was not easily intimidated, the cold gaze of the other woman's dark grey eyes made the words die on her lips. "Tifa Lockheart," the older woman said, the calmness of her voice completely at odds with her vicious gaze, "I am correct?" Without waiting for an answer, she said, "If so, I want to meet your friends." She smiled then. "I have a few questions to ask your buddy Cloud Strife."


	4. Old Wounds

(AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hello, everyone! Thank you for reading this far! I hope you've enjoyed reading this fic as much as I've enjoyed writing it. Please leave a review- I'd really like to know what everyone thinks.)

* * *

_We had all taken an oath we thought was close to sacred._

_We stood in that marble hallway, wearing what we thought were the uniforms we would die in. Some of us were excited, some of us were, scared…how was anyone to know that amongst them lay two hearts so resigned?_

_There was nothing I could say that day as I saw her walk past me. She was so close, I could smell her; that delicate scent of freshly-cut grass that haunted me even in my dreams, filled my waking hours. To a stronger man, seeing her walk would have been torture. For me, it surpassed pain and became a kind of religious ecstasy. _

_No one would ever know how I felt about her, except for the person I wanted most, and the person I wanted least to know._

_A man like me could never have loved, but I loved her._

_

* * *

_

Cid had just finished telling Barret about the mysterious phone call when Marlene ran in, flushed and dusty from a hard day at play. "Uncle Cid!" she yelled, running towards the blonde man at full tilt and leaping into his lap with all the grace of a thousand rhinocerii,

"Hey there, sis!" Cid bellowed in return, trying not to cringe as her heel came within dangerously close range of his crotch. He held the little girl closer to him, trying to gently manoeuvre her into a less precarious position. "Where've you been all day?"

"School," Marlene answered pertly, then bit Cid on the knee and jumped from his lap into Barret's. Cid tried to suppress a yelp of pain as she launched herself from his left knee, but only succeeded in stifling his shriek into a grunt.

Barret caught Marlene in midair and, tucking her under one huge arm, said, "Well, missy, don't you have anything to say to your daddy?"

"Hi, Daddy!" Marlene said with a wave.

"That's better." Barret swung her up in the air and onto one of his massive shoulders. "Did you have a good day at school?"

"Yep."

"What'd you learn?"

"Stuff?"

"What stuff?"

"Just STUFF, Dad!" Marlene said with impatience. "Can I go to the Gold Saucer next week with Meg and her parents? Please? Please?"

"Let me think about it," Barret said, setting her down, "an' go play in your room for a while, okay? Uncle Cid and I have to talk about something important." Marlene dashed off without another word and Barret looked apologetically over at Cid. "Sorry, Cid- she's always real hyper when she comes home from school."

"It's okay," Cid replied, "I wasn't planning on havin' kids, anyways." He ruefully rubbed his knee and grinned at the bigger man. "Besides, I like Marlene. She's a real good girl."

"Yeah," Barret said, looking thoughtfully after her. "I hope she stays that way." He shook his head, as if to clear away his sentimental thoughts. "So, you sent Shera away?"

"Not away- she has a place of her own," Cid explained. "I told her to stay there until I got to the bottom of this whole phone call business." He sighed and leaned back in his chair, crossing his legs at the ankles. "Still don't know who the asshole is, but believe me, they're gonna hurt when I find out."

"I ain't seen anyone from Shinra around here," Barret responded. "We got a reactor; Rocket—'scuse me, _Highwind_ doesn't. It would be pretty weird for them to start a fight with you over here or any other reactor town."

"Maybe they found out we've been buyin' coal from Corel," Cid said.

"So? Why'd they target you and not us?" Barret scratched his chin. "It don't make sense, Cid. I think it's a prank call. Ignore it."

"Maybe." Cid thought for a minute. "Barret, you got any spare men who aren't working in the mines?'

"A few. Guys who've been injured or need a break from the bad air down there." The bigger man looked suspiciously at him. "Why?"

"I wanna set up a police force," Cid told him. "It wouldn't necessarily be one that had to fight, just enough so that people would think twice before coming after Highwind."

"Yeah, I dunno…"

"Look," Cid said, "I'm gonna level with you, Barret. I'm scared." He held up his hands. "I admit it, I am. See, I've worked real hard to get the town back on its feet. We're starting to turn into a real community- we're developing faster than any other former Shinra region on the continent- and I got plans for the place." Cid leaned forward earnestly. "I'm willing to pay them double what they'd be getting' in the mines, and I'll up my purchase payment for the coal by fifteen percent."

Barret looked at him in silence for a minute. Finally, he sighed and said, "Forty percent more.'

'You crazy fuck!" Cid swore, "I'll give you twenty!"

"Twenty-five."

"Done." Cid and Barret shook hands, then began laughing uproariously.

"You're a real crazy bastard, Highwind," Barret said with a grin. "I'm gonna need two days to get a group together. You want to stay?"

Cid shook his head. "I need to get back to Highwind, but I'll be back to pick up the team when they're ready. How many men can you give me?"

"I'll let you know," Barret said, "but there's a catch."

"Yeah?"

Barret stretched. "You're takin' Marlene to the park. I need a nap."

* * *

Tifa was apprehensive.

When Keira had made that remark about asking Cloud some questions, Tifa had assumed that the tall redhead meant nothing but ill, and had prepared herself for a fight. Keira must have sensed her shock, because she had hastily added, 'Don't worry, it's nothing bad, just a few small details I need to know," but Tifa still didn't completely trust her motives. Her suspicions weren't abetted by the fact that after she reluctantly agreed to let Keira accompany her, the taller woman went over to the wall of lockers in her room and took out a huge, dull-green knapsack, a heavy bracelet that looked like armour, and a sword almost as tall as she was, which she had calmly whipped around like a toy before sliding it into the straps on her backpack.

Now they walked in silence. Keira had shown her through a winding set of small alleyways and awkward paths made more difficult by the scattered rubble. Tifa did have to say, there hadn't been any sight of Tentacles as they walked, thanks to the Mako-powered flashlight the other woman held, but her odd insistence on traveling with Tifa still made the brunette nervous.

_Still, _Tifa thought, _she's much taller and has a sword as big as I am. If she was going to cut me down, she'd have done it already. I probably owe her my life; I should at least be polite._ Clearing her throat, Tifa asked, "How much time is left on that Mako light?"

Keira lifted the black cylinder to her face and stared at the digital display on the end for a moment. "About half an hour." She sighed. "Damn it all; there's no way of getting new Mako charges for this thing, not unless I'm willing to sell those black market bastards in Sector Three my left leg."

"Oh, that's bad," Tifa said politely.

Keira shrugged, a faraway look in her eyes. "I have a feeling I won't need it anymore."

They continued without speaking until Keira stumbled over a huge block of concrete that had been thrown into the path. With a strangled squeak, she hit the corner hard and went tumbling head over heels, sprawling across the block with her face in the dirt and her legs in the air. "Shit!" came her muffled reply.

Tifa ran around the block and, grasping Keira's shoulders gently, helped the other woman flip onto her back and sit up on the block. "Oh, my god, Keira, are you all right?"

"Holy and the fucking Moon!" Keira said, then suddenly covered her left eye with one dirty hand. "Oh, damn, I dropped my stupid contact lens!"

Tifa stood stock still, then carefully bent down and started feeling in the dirt for it. Keira flipped onto her stomach and started sweeping her hands around where she had fallen. The two women grimly patted and stroked the nasty ground for the contact for almost five minutes before Keira said, with extreme relief in her voice, "Oh, thank the…well, I found the damn thing."

"Oh, good," Tifa said. She had been kneeling away from Keira, but stood up as she said this and brushed the dirt off her knees. "Is it dirty?" she asked, turning towards the other woman.

Keira's head was down, and her fingers fumbling awkwardly near her face. As Tifa watched, she became aware that Keira was having real trouble getting it in. 'Let me help," she said, reaching out towards the redhead. "I used to be able to help my friend get those things in pretty—"

"No!" Keira said sharply, struggling to a sitting position with her hand covering that eye again. "I mean, thank you, but I can do it," she said breathlessly.

Tifa wasn't distracted by Keira's fluster. She still noticed something odd was going on behind Keira's hand. With her brow furrowed, she held up her hand.

Keira froze.

"I see it," Tifa said calmly. "It's okay."

The other woman lowered her hand, revealing her eye. One eye remained the unremarkable blue-grey it had been before, but the orb without a contact in it blazed forth in a startling shade of silver that was noticeable even in the Midgar gloom.

Mako eyes. Keira had Mako eyes.

With a sigh, she reached into her other eye and floated the contact out. She held her hand out to Tifa, so that the other woman could see the contacts were darkly tinted. 'that's why I tripped," Keira explained, "These things really restrict my vision." She stood up, pocketing the little disks. "I suppose you're either going to run away or fight me, now."

Tifa didn't say anything.

"Please don't run, okay?"

"I won't," she replied, "but before we go any further, I need to know what you need to talk to Cloud about."

"We were in Shinra together," Keira explained softly.

"Are you…" Tifa swallowed. "Are you a Sephiroth clone?"

Keira jumped as if she'd been stung. "A _what?_"

Tifa explained, "They were created by Professor Hojo. We saw them two years ago, during the…crisis."

Keira turned so pale, Tifa was suddenly worried she would faint. The taller woman sat down with a thump. "Clones," she said in a small voice, 'he was making clones? Of Sephiroth?"

"Do you have a number?" Tifa asked harshly.

"What?"

"A tattoo of a number! Do you have one?"

Keira shook her head slowly, a look of bewilderment on her face. "No, no, I don't. I swear!" She held out her arms, as if to prove something. "See? Nothing!"

"They're on the ankle," Tifa said, but Keira yanked up her pant legs and showed her feet and lower legs to Tifa without a word, and there wasn't a mark upon them.

"I didn't know that," Keira said with wonder. "I mean, that it was possible. Did they look like Sephiroth?"

"No," said Tifa, "they were just injected with his cells. I think most of them were real people Hojo experimented on."

"This is terrible," Keira said, almost in a whisper.

Tifa's confusion and irritation was immediately assuaged by seeing the formerly blasé Keira looking so upset, and she sat down beside the other woman and took her hand. It was ice-cold. "They're gone, I promise," she said in a soft voice. "They threw themselves off Gaea's Cliff long before Meteor came. I know; I saw them."

A tear rolled down Keira's alabaster cheek. 'It's not that," she said, her voice still low and husky, "I'm just sorry…for those people."

Something about her tone struck Tifa as odd, but she decided to let it slide, and continued to hold the other woman's hand as another tear, and then one more, fell from her phantasmagorical eyes. Keira was as still as stone for a few minutes, but soon she let out a huge sigh and put her head in her hands. "I'm sorry,' she said from under her hair, "it's just that I used to know Sephiroth, and I know how pissed he'd be at that."

Again, Tifa said nothing.

"We should keep going," Keira said, rising to her feet.

Tifa immediately held a hand against her throat, balled into a fist. Keira froze. "Not until you promise me that you're not coming with us to start trouble," Tifa said in a steely voice.

"I said I promise," Keira said, "now don't crush my goddamn larynx."

Tifa dropped her hand and stepped aside, waiting for Keira to pass. She did so, her head lowered, and Tifa fell into step behind her. The rest of their walk was spent in utter quiet.

* * *

Cloud was about ready to go crashing into Sector Six, sword swinging, when a shout interrupted his brooding. Turning to face the source of the noise, he saw Tifa waving at him. He took a few steps towards her, then broke into a run. She began running as well, until she threw herself at him and wrapped him in a huge hug. Cloud hugged back, tighter than he had ever embraced anyone. "Don't you let anything happen to you," he whispered into her ear.

She stiffened slightly, then relaxed, slipping from his grasp. "I'm sorry, guys."

"We were worried," Vincent said, fiddling with the safety on his gun. "I was about to go in after you."

Cloud shot Vincent a look, but the older man was looking at Tifa, who had run up and kissed him on the cheek. "I'm fine," she said, "and I'm so sorry to worry you."

"Let's get the hell out of here," Cloud said.

"Wait!" Tifa grabbed his arm. "The woman who found me- she helped me get here, and avoid Tentacle. She wanted to speak to you."

"Tentacle?" Cloud looked up.

The silver glare of her Mako eyes stuck him somewhere in the bowels, a shiver of recognition traveling up into his head, which suddenly buzzed with something—

**_Leave her alone!_**

"—hell?"

Cloud blinked several times in confusion. The woman was staring at him. Her eyes were nowhere near as shocking as before, but that glow was unmistakable, as was the massive sword she had strapped to her back. That and the boots triggered a memory, and Cloud said, half in a whisper, "You're from SOLDIER."

"Not anymore," she said. Her voice was oddly inflected, as if Midgair wasn't her first language. She held out her hand. "I'm-"

"You're Halyenne."

She paused. "You can call me Keira now, Strife." His hand was hanging limply in the air; Keira grabbed it and shook it. "I don't outrank anyone anymore."

Vincent gave him a look. "Do you know this woman, Cloud?"

"Yeah," Cloud said, keeping his eye on her, "I know her."

"She's the one who rescued me," Tifa interjected. She sounded worried.

Cloud still hadn't broken his gaze with Keira. "I suppose we owe her thanks, then."

"You owe me more than that," Keira replied calmly, "and I think you know why." Her limpid stare turned into a more intense expression, but her voice stayed even and sweet-tempered.

"I'm confused," said Tifa, crossing her arms.

"I am, as well," Vincent replied. 'May I inquire as to what is going on?"

Cloud continued to stare at Keira, whose brow was now furrowed in a visage he couldn't quite read. "I killed him, if that's what you want to know," he said.

Her eyes widened, and their eye contact was finally broken as she backed up a couple steps. "I know," she said, her eyes flickering over to Tifa and Vincent, "but that's not what I meant."

Cloud felt a bubble of rage rise in him. Of all people, at all times, in all places…he couldn't believe his lousy luck. Slowly, he moved his hand back and closed it around the hilt of his sword, which he'd long since unwrapped from its coverings. "You'd better tell me exactly what you mean and what you want," he said.

Keira held up her hands. "I know what you're thinking," she said, her accent becoming slightly stronger as she began speaking more quickly, "but you're wrong. I swear it. I haven't come looking for revenge against you, Strife. I always liked you, and I know whatever you did, you it because you had to."

"Cloud!" he heard Tifa say warningly.

Keira cocked an eyebrow at him. "I mean," she said, her voice becoming stronger and the bravado returning, "If I was really after you out of anger, do you think I would have waited for _you_ to come to _me_?"

Cloud left his hand on his sword.

"As well as saving your girlfriend, here?"

"I'm not—" Tifa began to say, but Vincent put a warning hand on her shoulder, and she shut up, throwing him a little look of resentment.

"I've thanked you for bring our friend back," Cloud said, "and you've said yourself that I did what had to be done, so I can't imagine what your question could be. I think you'd better leave us alone."

"Oh, for…" Keira shrugged off her backpack, sending it and her sword clattering to the ground. Tifa and Vincent took two steps back, but Cloud quickly whipped his sword out of its back holster and held it out at her. She put both of her hands over her head and took a few steps backwards, leaving her pile of weaponry and other items on the ground well out of her reach. "Look, I'm unarmed. Take my sword and all my things- hell, you can keep the underwear, if you're into that- but I need to speak with you for just five minutes." Cloud didn't respond. 'Five minutes, and I'll leave you be."

"Vincent, grab it," Cloud said. Vincent came forward and gingerly picked up the heavy green sack, then the long sword, and backed up again.

Keira didn't move. With an inward sigh, Cloud sheathed his sword. "Okay, then," he said uncertainly. "What do you need to know?"

"Can we at least get out of the street?" Vincent asked.

"Or out of Midgar?" Tifa added.

"Fine," Cloud said shortly, "we'll start walking towards the gate now."

"I have a Mako light," Keira said, her hands still half-raised. "If _you_ promise not to cut my damn head off, I can walk ahead and make sure Tentacle doesn't come near."

"That's a very good idea," Tifa said, giving Cloud the hairy eyeball. "You can show us the best way out. Is there enough time on the light?"

"Sure," Keira replied, "I can get you out of here in ten, fifteen minutes, maybe." She raised her eyebrow at Cloud. "That okay with you, Strife?"

"Fine," he said shortly.

Keira shrugged, then started walking. She unclipped a black cylinder from her belt and pushed a button on the end. A beam of greenish light shot out. As she walked, Keira moved the light back and forth, quickly sweeping the area. Tifa gave Cloud another puzzled look, then turned and followed the red-haired woman.

When they were a few paces ahead, Cloud started walking as well, Vincent an arm's length behind him. "SOLDIER allowed women to enrol?" he asked quietly.

Cloud kept his eyes on the lithe figure ahead of them. "Not many," he said softly. "They couldn't very well keep them out of the army when there was such a need for people to fight in the war, so it stood to reason SOLDIER would have to start accepting their applications eventually. They weren't very fair, of course- forced them to have the exact same qualifications as the male applicants. Be able to lift the same amount, and all that."

Vincent pushed his bandana farther down on his forehead, almost over his reddish eyes. "That's far from impossible," he said.

"I know, but it worked- as far as I knew, there were only ever three women in SOLDIER." Keira and Tifa were talking about something; Cloud couldn't hear what, but Tifa looked concerned. "She was a good fighter, before she disappeared."

"Disappeared?"

"After I…after Sephiroth died at Nibelheim, she just vanished." Now Keira was gesturing wildly. Cloud heard Tifa laugh nervously. "Some people said that all high-level SOLDIER members who'd had contact with Sephiroth within a certain amount of time were being eliminated. Others said she got kicked out for insubordination. I'm willing to bet this is the first time anyone's seen her in a long time." To himself, Cloud added, _and who could blame her_?

"She knew Sephiroth?"

"Probably better than anyone else," Cloud said grimly, "which is exactly why I don't want her with us." He could sense Vincent about to ask another question, but Cloud wasn't aware of all the answers, himself. Neither man spoke again until they had reached the edge of Midgar.

* * *

_I remember sitting on the examining table in that idiot's office, naked and bored, swinging my legs and waiting for him to be finished with his stupid tests. I was nineteen, too young to still be putting up with Hojo's constant prodding and poking. The whole thing verged on molestation, as far as I could see it._

"_Hmmm…very good, very good," the old vulture muttered to himself, adjusting the focus on the microscope. "Very good development, young man."_

_I amused myself by looking at the poster of the female musculoskeletal system next to his head. She wasn't bad-looking, for a woman with no skin. "Are we finished yet?"_

"_Not quite yet," Hojo said. "How are you feeling, Sephiroth?"_

"_Fine."_

"_Just fine?"_

"_Perfectly normal in every way. May I please be excused now?"_

"_No."_

_It had been this way ever since Professor Gast died, and I never missed him more than I did during these "routine" examinations. Maybe I had Hojo to thank for some of my battle skills, but, as I often pointed out, I hadn't exactly asked for them. Gast had at least talked to me like I had a brain in my head, and been polite. With Hojo, I felt like a piece of meat, a lab rat- though I suppose to him, I was._

_A few minutes later, Hojo turned around, fiddling with his glasses as always. "Your Mako cell count is higher than it should be."_

"_Oh, and whose fault would that be, I wonder?"_

_As usual, sarcasm was wasted on him. "Have you been spending too much time in the reactors?" he inquired, his piggy little eyes magnified by his thick lenses._

"_I go where I'm sent, PROFESSOR Hojo. Ask my commanding officer."_

_He frowned. "Your attitude is as unwelcome as it is unnecessary."_

_I looked back at him, unblinking as a lizard. After a couple of silent moments, he harrumphed and turned away. "I've heard you're seeing a young lady."_

"_Yes, I am."_

"_Might I inquire as to whom?"_

"_No, because it's none of your business." Holy hell, where was he going with this? More importantly, how did he find out?_

"_Sephiroth, your well-being is very much my business." Hojo heaved a huge sigh and bowed his head for a minute, looking over a sheaf of notes in his hand. "Halyenne, is it?"_

_I must have jumped a little, because he looked back at me with a smirk. "A trainee."  
_

"_What of it, Hojo?" I'd had enough. Pulling on my shirt, I hopped down from the examining table and started to dress. _

"_You don't think it's suspicious, a younger woman playing up to a man of higher rank?"_

_I kept mum, but my anger was boiling. Buttoning the fly of my pants, I simply said, "That's disgusting."_

"_I'm looking out for you, my boy." Ugh, I hated the sound of his adenoidal breathing, his nose always stuffy… "I don't want anyone furthering their career based on their relationship with you."_

"_No," I responded, tying my left shoe, "you'd rather have a monopoly on that, wouldn't you?"_

_When I was younger, Hojo would have slapped me for talking back to him like that. Now, he just sighed. "Such an angry young man. I'm merely reminding you that your relationship with the girl is against the Shinra Employee Code- and that a promising young man such as yourself will have plenty of time for romance later."_

_I had to play it cool. "Hojo, she's a very nice girl. We're friends. We don't take anything seriously."_

"_I should certainly hope not." As I walked to the door,H ojo put his hand on my shoulder. I turned to face him, bothered as always by his touch. He was smiling at me with those horrible brown teeth. "It would be a very great loss indeed if anything were to jeopardize your career."_


	5. Explosions and Confessions

(AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hey, guys! I'm trying to make the chapters a little bit shorter, since they're usually about 10-12 pages. I knw the story isn't moving incredibly quicly, but I plan on this being a long fic. The story's getting a little more complex, and don't worry, Yuffie fans- I brought her in, finally! Enjoy, and please do leave a review if you have anything to say.)

* * *

Yuffie was hanging upside down in a tree.

Her father, Godo, had told her that the greatest and most powerful of ninjas was a man who had hung upside down for a week without any problems. What Godo hadn't told her was that it was a ploy to get her out of the house and out of his hair. Yuffie knew he was trying to mess with her head, but she also thought it might be a terrific joke to pretend to proudly go back and show Godo that she could do it. The trick was eluding her.

She had just opened her eyes after taking a short snooze, her legs maniacally clamped around the tree branch, when she saw a sudden flash. Shocked, Yuffie let go, and plummeted towards the ground, catching herself at the last moment. "What the hell?" she exclaimed aloud. Her eyes went to the origin of the light- Wutai.

Yuffie remained still for a second. She was nearly a kilometre from Wutai, and therefore was unsure as to whether she had really seen the mysterious flash. She had always had fairly keen eyes, and from what she could see, there was no sign of distress. The young ninja was about to ignore what she thought she had seen when, as she gazed directly at the distant town, another flash- a bigger one- went off.

With that, Yuffie broke directly into a run and went racing towards Wutai, fear choking her.

* * *

The real estate agent in Kalm was a small, plump, cheerful-looking woman with reddish-brown hair wound in a perky knot atop her head. "So, Mister…LaForge? You say you're looking for a new home?"

"Yes, ma'am." Reno took off his hat and bowed in what he hoped was a folksy manner, combined with a friendly wink. The little woman coloured, as she assumed the younger man was flirting with her. _Stupid cow._ "In fact, we've actually got a specific problem for you."

"Oh?"

Reno nodded towards Elena, who had stuffed a small cushion into the front of her blousy peasant top. On cue, she giggled a bit. "My wife, see," Reno said, carefully attempting to sound like a rube, "she's…in the family way."

'Oh, Jim!" Elena said in mock-embarrassment.

"We'll be needing a new place soon," Reno continued, and "we heard from a friend- we got a friend here, says he's about to sell his place and move on, and we were wondering if maybe you knew of his property."

The agent opened one of the drawers in her file cabinet and started rifling through it. "Has he put it up for sale yet?"

"I don't know, ma'am," Reno said, trying to look ashamed. "I hate to be a bother, but our friend told us he'd save the place, you now, seein' as how we'll be needing to cut corners, what with the little one on the way."

"So, it'd be a direct sale, then?" The little woman smiled at him. Reno looked in her eyes for any hint that she knew she was being fooled, but they remained brown and sparkling and utterly guileless.

"Yes, ma'am."

"That's no problem," she said, shutting the drawer. "Although, I'm not sure why you'd come to see me and trouble yourselves, if you just need to speak to your friend."

"Well," Elena said, coming forward with a caressing hand on the bulge in her shirt. "It's just _so_ embarrassing, but we lost his address and phone number on the way over, and we simply don't know what to do!"

Now, the woman looked quite confused. "Did you look in the phone book?"

They hung their heads. "Unlisted number," Reno mumbled.

The real estate agent smiled reassuringly at them. "Now, now," she said soothingly, "there's no need to look so down! It's no trouble at all to look it up for you. Now, what's the name?"

_Good, she's buying the idiotic act._ "Cloud Strife, ma'am." Reno raised his head and examined the woman's face as she looked through her pink leather properties binder.

"Strife…S-T-R-I-F-E?"

"Yes."

She looked for another few moments before shaking her head. "I'm terribly sorry, sir. I don't seem to have a listing for Strife."

"Oh, are you sure" Elena interjected, sounding terribly upset. Reno gave her a quick warning look, but her big blue eyes remained focused on the woman in front of them, an expression of mild panic on her face.

"I'm so sorry, dear." The agent closed the binder. "There is one other agent in town who may have the listing- I do mostly houses. Was your friend's place a full-sized house?"

"Yes," Reno said quickly. "At least, we think so- all he said was that it was big enough for three."

The agent took a small piece of paper off a note cube and wrote a number and address on it. "This is the contact information for North alms Real Estate," she said. "Ask for Lynnette and tell her what you told me. If I don't have the listing, she definitely will."

Reno stood up and bowed quickly, taking the scrap of paper. "Thank you, ma'am. We'll check it out right away." Elena also sketched a small bow, smiling at the woman, and they both turned and began walking out.

"Good luck! Have a nice day!" the little woman behind the desk called merrily after them as they left.

After they had gone, the woman picked up the phone and dialled a series of numbers. The machine picked up. "This is Elmyra," she said, being careful not to address the recipients by name. "Some people…are looking for you. They're not friendly. Look out." She placed the phone back into its cradle carefully, then ran to the door and looked out. The lobby was bare, except for the chairs and a potted plant. Her secretary was gone, probably out to get coffee. Elmyra ducked back into her office and dialled again, her tone more urgent this time. "It was the Turks," she whispered into the phone after she got the machine again, "be careful!"

* * *

Cloud lowered the PHS from his ear, stunned. Tifa, recognizing the expression of shock on his face, asked, 'What's wrong?"

"The Turks are in Kalm. They're looking for us," he answered shortly.

"Damn it," Vincent said softly.

Night had fallen just as the travellers had started to leave Midgar. Even though they felt the city wasn't safe, Cloud, Tifa, and Vincent agreed that it was better to spend the night at an inn than to try to get out. Keira, who was still with the group, mentioned that Tentacle was particularly bad at night, and that traveling in and out of Midgar once it got darker was just a hair short of completely stupid. They now sat in a small bar in Wall Market, a place that Cloud remembered from two years back, not far from Don Corneo's old mansion.

"Did you get that off the machine?" Tifa asked.

Cloud nodded. "Reno and Elena came into Elmyra office earlier, pretending to be friends of mine who I'd promised could buy my house off me."

"Is she all right?"

"She said she's fine." Cloud shook his head. "Damned Shinra…"

Keira glared at him. She had put her shading contacts back in, but her eyes had lost none of their intensity. "Keep that to a minimum," she said quietly, "they've been rebuilding like crazy. A lot of people got their homes and still get their food from them."

Cloud hunched over. Vincent drummed his fingers on the tabletop, the soft leather of his glove doing a poor job of concealing the noise of metal tapping on wood. Tifa sighed.

"You still haven't explained why you needed to talk to me," Cloud said suddenly.

"Holy and the fucking Moon, you have bigger problems than _that_," Keira said, irritated.

"Look," Cloud said, leaning across the table with a scowl on his face, "you took care of Tifa when she was hurt, sure. Thank you for that. We don't want any Shinra hanging around."

"Shinra!" Keira's voice rose slightly. Looking quickly over her shoulder, she leaned in towards Cloud, her face stormy. "I'm no more Shinra than you are, Strife."

"Prove it."

"Cloud, why are you being like this?" Tifa hissed.

"Well?" Cloud ignored her. "Come on. Prove you're not with Shinra."

Without breaking her stare, Keira started unbuttoning the front of her black shirt. Tifa's eyes widened and she moved in closer, so as to shield the other woman from other patrons. A few buttons down, Keira opened the front of her shirt and bared her chest and the top of her breasts to the other three.

A long scar, about two inches thick and white, curved from an inch below her clavicle, stretched into her cleavage, and disappeared into the middle part of her bra. Keira kept her shirt open for a minute, then closed it and started re-fastening it. "I think you can guess what that's from," she said, her voice slightly shaky.

Cloud sat back, stunned. Tifa's mouth was open in surprise. Even Vincent seemed a bit uncomfortable.

"So, you know I don't want to exact revenge on you," Keira continued. "I want some of my own. I need to know how he died."

"Sephiroth attacked you?" Tifa asked.

"He did more than attack me," Keira said bitterly, "but that's not important right now."

"I'm sorry," Cloud said, stunned.

"I don't blame you," Keira said, leaning back as if nothing had happened. A bleary-eyed man at the bar turned around, ogled her and Tifa, and then went back to his drink. "If I were you, I'd be cautious."

Vincent cleared his throat. "Do you really want to know what happened to Sephiroth?"

"I do," she responded.

The dark-haired man looked at her with something like sympathy. "If I may say so, you seem to have an emotional investment in this information."

"I was very much in love with Sephiroth," Keira said, her voice so calm and flat, she might have been talking about the weather. "When he went mad, it ruined my whole life. I want to know exactly what went on so that I can finally consider him dead, buried, and gone."

If the other people at the bar hadn't been making noise, the silence coming from their corner table would have deafened them. Tifa had clapped her hands over her mouth in shock, and even Vincent's stoic face had contorted into a surprised look. Only Cloud looked anything short of staggered.

"Can we please talk alone?" Keira said to him. She stood up. "Outside?"

"We'll be back," Cloud said to the other two, then stood up himself. As he and Keira made their way over to the door, he heard Tifa furiously whisper something to Vincent.

The night was cool and dank and smelled vaguely of mildew. "Shall we walk and talk?" Keira asked.

Her accent sounded strange to him. "Where are you from?" Cloud inquired, as they started slowly walking up toward Don Corneo's mansion.

"I'm from the North Continent," she told him, "a little town called Crimson Peak."

"I've never heard of it."

"Most people haven't."

They walked a little ways farther until they reached a large metal column that had fallen across the path. Keira walked to the end and sat down, smoothing her black pants over her legs. "Want to sit?"

Cloud took a seat a little ways away from her. He studied her face. Keira was looking straight ahead, not at him, her mass of burnished hair falling over her shoulders and halfway pinned up in the back. _She's really beautiful_, Cloud thought, looking at the elegant sweep of her high cheekbones, the ski-jump shape of her slightly long nose, the full lips.

"So. Tell me what happened."

Cloud began telling the story, watching her closely for signs of distress or crying. When he got to the part about Sephiroth falling into the reactor, Keira nodded in recognition. "I thought it was something like that," she said. "I remember them telling all the other SOLDIER members that he had died in an accident, but I knew there had to be something more."

"It was no fault of his," Cloud said softly.

"I know. I'm not looking for you to compliment him, Strife." Keira looked down at her hands, twisted in her lap. "Please go on."

He picked up the story again, describing how he had woken up with Zack and how they had tried to escape, until his companion was shot down by Shinra troops. Keira looked unhappy at that, but waved at him to keep going.

It was hard for Cloud to tell the story without giving too much away- namely, his own bizarre connections to Sephiroth, the whole issue of Jenova- and stuck to when he had last seen Sephiroth, alone with him in the Crater. Quietly, he explained how Sephiroth had succumbed to his sword, how the body had disappeared when the Crater caved in, and how he and the rest of AVALANCHE had escaped by air.

When he finished, Keira was silent for a minute.

"I want you to know, he died fighting," Cloud said.

She remained quiet.

"Are you all right?"

Slowly, she nodded. Cloud, not wanting to press her too much, looked away and out at the Midgar night. Despite the overall gloominess and oppressive upper plate, the lights of the lower city were actually quite pretty, in a garish way, and he had slipped off into a reverie when Keira interrupted his thoughts with, "Thank you, Strife."

He glanced at her. She didn't look upset. "Call me Cloud, okay?"

"All right." She stood up. "I suppose we'd better get back, now."

" Just a minute." She turned to face him. "What about you?"

"Me?"

"Your story." Cloud looked up at her face. "Were you and Sephiroth in a relationship? No one ever knew."

Keira sat back down and sighed heavily. "We were pretty good at keeping it a secret. I took care to never be seen with him in public, at least, nowhere SOLDIER trainees ever went. He thought it would be too dangerous for me to be linked to him, and I didn't want people to think I had gotten a job with SOLDIER just because I was fucking Sephiroth."

Cloud was slightly taken aback by her coarseness. Keira looked at him and laughed. "I'm sorry; it's been seven years in the Midgar ghetto."

"It doesn't bother me."

"Good." Keira's eyes became distant. "We never wanted it to get out, and as far as I knew, it never had."

"Were you still together when…?" Cloud asked, trying to be delicate.

Her lovely face became sad. "He had proposed a week before he disappeared."

"Oh." Cloud didn't know what to say. "I'm…I'm sorry."

Keira gave a wry little laugh. "Well, it seems to have been for the best, doesn't it?" She looked down at the ground and kicked the dirt a bit. "There was always an undercurrent of him being troubled. I think he felt very isolated for most of his life- growing up the way he did."

"I heard he was adopted by the Shinra Corporation."

"In a way." The redhead started drawing in the dust with the toe of her boot. "He was an orphan. What he told me is that he had a mother, named Jenova, or something outlandish like that, who died in childbirth, and that he didn't know who his father had been, but he had worked for Shinra labs."

"Jenova?" Cloud tried not to give anything away through his tone. She nodded. "I see."

"We met in training," Keira went on, a little dreamily. "He was my sparring partner. I'd never been beaten in a fight before, and he grabbed my hand to show me how I should have parried differently…" She scoffed a bit and looked at Cloud, a little sheepish. "Well, it's not important anymore."

Cloud didn't respond. His mind was racing. This woman probably had known Sephiroth better than anyone else had, but he had more information about the man's actual life. It struck him as a particularly sad situation.

"Now, we _really_ need to be heading back," Keira said, hopping off the downed column. "We've been gone almost an hour. Your friends must be frantic."

"I haven't thanked you properly for helping Tifa out," Cloud said, "and I apologize."

"It's nothing," she insisted.

"It means a great deal to me, actually."

They began walking back to the bar. "It's my turn to ask a personal question. Are you and Tifa together?"

Cloud coughed, uncomfortable with the question. "We have been, but…we aren't anymore."

"I was just wondering. I sensed a closeness," Keira said.

"We grew up together, and we've been through a lot," Cloud explained.

Keira cleared her throat, as if she expected him to go on, but Cloud wasn't about to start enumerating the intricacies of their relationship, and just kept his eyes in front of him.

Just before they re-entered the bar, Keira softly touched his shoulder. "Thank you for telling me about Sephiroth," she said, a touch of sadness in her voice.

Cloud glanced at her. The tremble in her voice did not show itself in her face, but her eyes were wider, more candid, and did not slide away nervously when they tried to meet his, as they had been. Her pale skin and the deep tone of her eyes gave her stare an enormous amount of power, and he found himself at a loss for words.

Then, suddenly, he realized something. "How did you know that I was the last one to see Sephiroth?"

Her eyes flickered, then went back to being evasive. "Everyone…I mean, it was news, then, that you had been pursuing the Man in the Black Cape," she said haltingly. "I just…I heard from friends who were still in Shinra that the brass was saying it was Sephiroth, and so I just put two and two together." Hurried, she added, "and it seems I was right, eh?"

He looked at her a moment. "Yeah," he finally said, "you were right."

When they walked back over to the table, Tifa looked up with a questioning expression. Cloud nodded to her, as if to say, _I'll explain later_, and said, "Let's get going."

"We were discussing that," Vincent said. "You obviously can't return to Kalm."

"Or Rocket Town," the blonde man agreed. "If Cid's really being threatened and the Turks are looking for me, it'll be a lot safer for him if we stay away."

"What Vincent and I were thinking," Tifa said, elbow on the table and her head resting on her fist, "is that we could go to Cosmo Canyon. Nanaki will happily hide us, and there's no Shinra presence there."

"That's a good point," Cloud said. "I like the Canyon; I could stay there for a few days."

"It's settled, then." Vincent shredded a paper napkin with his claw hand. "I'm sure the people of the Canyon will value any insight you two have about the Lifestream and other things."

"Wow, Vincent, have you of all people gotten sentimental?" Tifa teased.

Keira cleared her throat. "I need to ask another favour of you all." The other three all turned to her. "I've always wanted to go to Cosmo Canyon and study for a while, but I've never had the opportunity to travel all that way. If you three are heading there, can I join you for the journey?"

Vincent didn't react, but Tifa immediately said, "Of course, you can!" She shot Cloud a look of her own, but he smiled quietly at her and nodded his own assent.

The tall redhead looked from one person to the other, before breaking out in a pleased smile. "Well, all right, then!" she said. "We're on our way!"

Cloud smiled back at her, but couldn't shake his sudden feeling of trepidation.


	6. A Green Fate Approaches

(AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hi, everyone! Sory for the gap between this chapter and the last; I've been really busy with school and real life.I hope you're enjoying the story so far. Remember, if you like it or hate it, drop me a note and tell me why!)

_

* * *

_

_We decided to go out one evening. Although we'd been seeing each other for almost a year, Keira and I had never gone out on an actual date. It was too risky- I wasn't exactly inconspicuous, and she was a hard woman to miss. I always thought that was the thing she found the most difficult- the lack of privacy, the frustration of going outside and people knowing your name right away. _

_So, we hid ourselves. I tucked my hair into a ridiculous fedora that I had borrowed from my friend Zack. Zack was the kind of guy who could wear something like that un-ironically; he said it brought the chicks running to him, but I thought it was pretty goofy. Still, my hair fit under it. _

_Keira had a pair of coloured contact lenses she liked to wear when going somewhere not on duty, so she'd be all right there. I was worried about myself. Mako eyes are not easy to hide. I tried on a pair of sunglasses, but combined with the hat, I looked like the main character of a bad detective novel. _

_She knocked on the doorframe before entering. "Hey, are you ready yet?"_

"_Almost."_

_Keira walked in, though not too far- we didn't want anyone guessing at our familiarity. She had the contacts in, which dimmed those lovely silvery eyes to a very ordinary bluish grey, and her hair was uniformly brown._

"_What happened here?" I asked, picking up one silky strand and twirling it in my fingers._

_Her eyes slid over to the hallway, and she swatted at my hand. "Temporary dye. As long as it doesn't rain, I'll be fine." Keira was wearing a tight-fitting black t-shirt with a very low neck, which I approved of far more than the hair. She noticed my gaze and cocked an amused eyebrow at me. "What are you doing about those eyes?"_

"_I have no idea." I tried the sunglasses again, which made her giggle._

"_Poor Seph," she said, reaching up and removing them gently. "You really need to get some lenses made. Don't you ever get sent on undercover missions?"_

_I closed my hand around her upraised one, but she squirmed and inclined her head towards the open door. A pair of merry voices echoed down the corridor, and I reluctantly dropped her hand. "How could I get sent on undercover missions? Everyone in this damn city knows SOLDIER First Class."_

_She leaned back against the doorframe and looked at me. "I guess that's why they keep us poor, sad women around," she said, her tone wry. "No one expects boobs and SOLDIER to go together."_

"_I think they go together nicely."_

_Keira laughed. I always thought I loved her best when she smiled. She had such a stern, sad expression when in repose. "Look, I can wear the sunglasses or the hat, but not both. Take your pick."_

_She came around behind me and took off the hat, sending my hair tumbling down. "Can you slick back your bangs?"_

"_With what?"_

"_One second, I bet Zack has some hair gel. With that stupid haircut, he's got to have a bucketful of goo around somewhere. Be right back." With that, she left._

_I sat in the desk chair and pretended to read a book about Wutaiian swordfighting methods until she returned, carrying a small jar. "I knew he'd have some. Stand up?"_

_She came over to me and held a rubber band out. "Put your hair in a low ponytail and tuck it in the back of your shirt," she said, and I did so to the best of my ability. I was wearing a loose, sloppy turtleneck, and with my hair tucked in, it looked like it ended where my shirt began. Keira held out the jar, and I scooped a dollop of the sticky stuff onto my hands and gummed my bangs to my head as well as I could._

"_How does it look?"_

"_Very sleazy." Her accent always grew stronger on the r's, rolling them a bit. "That's perfect for where we're going."_

_I picked the sunglasses off the dresser and slid them on. Keira fell in step behind me and waited as I locked the door. "So, which one of your creepy lower Midgar haunts are we going to?"_

_Keira took the clasp out of her hair and shook it out, then gathered the long mass into one hand and twisted it. Pinning it against the back of her head, she said, "It's not one of mine. Tiri told me about it. Some place in Sector Seven that serves really good food."_

"_Dark and quiet and anonymous?" I asked as we entered the elevator and pushed "BP"- below plate._

"_Just the way you like it."_

_I remember the evening being very warm for so late in the year. The second we had taken two steps out of the elevator, Keira turned to me and threw her arms around me, hugging me close as she pressed her face into my neck. I felt the warmth of her breath on my clavicle as she said, "I thought you were never coming back from Wutai."_

_My arms were clenched so hard around her, I was afraid she would snap in two. I raised her face to mine and gave her a very soft kiss. "It wasn't so bad," I murmured into her sweet lips. "We didn't lose anyone this time. Ben barely even broke that leg; it's probably just a fracture."_

"_I always worry."_

"_You don't need to—"_

"_I know I don't need to worry about you, but I do. That's love."_

_Maybe that was love. I certainly felt it. If only there was some way I could have told her when everything went wrong, some way of saying to her—_

_

* * *

_

Keira wiped Kalm Fang off her sword. "Ugh, what the hell inside of an animal is _green_?"

"Beats me," answered Tifa, flicking a bit of skin off her knuckles.

The two women, Cloud, and Vincent had decided to travel the long way: through Midgar Valley, past the grasslands, through the swamps and the caves, and across the other half of the continent to Junon, where they would catch the boat from there to Costa Del Sol. Vincent had called ahead to Nanaki, who had agreed to arrange a buggy to meet them and take them to Cosmo Canyon. It was safer than hiring transportation in Kalm or Midgar, but it would take them two days, and Cloud was nervous. Every time some kind of vehicle passed them, the group would have to split up and hide, then wait until things seemed safe. It was time-consuming, not to mention annoying. Monster attacks didn't help.

Keira sighed and tucked her sword into her back holster. "There are more monsters this time of year than usual."

"They're uglier than usual, too." Tifa said. Keira laughed.

"Back on the dusty trail," Cloud mumbled, then started to slog forward. He hadn't slept well the previous night. His dreams were fragmentary, furious, filled with stabbing sword and shards of ice. He had dreamt about Sephiroth, Sephiroth killing Aerith over and over and over, in different ways. It had made for a damned uncomfortable sleep.

Lost in his thoughts, Cloud walked on. It was an exceptionally pretty day for late autumn. There weren't many trees in this area, but Cloud could see the occasional small shrub turning orange and red around the edges. The muffled creak of his brown leather boots, the sound of birds…for a minute, Cloud's mind quieted, and he began to enjoy the sunlight and crisp air, despite the worry tugging at the back of his mind.

"You have to really develop a sense for what's going on behind and next to you," Tifa was saying. "I mean, it has to be really good."

"Yeah, but when you're an armed combatant, it's so much harder to rely on anything _but_ your weapon," Keira said. "I never learned how to fight well without a sword."

"It could be done, though," Tifa argued. 'I mean, Vincent, you're really good at taking something down without even seeing it." To Keira, she said, "I once saw him shoot down a Tonadu that came from behind. No one else even saw it."

"It's not so much," Vincent said.

"Hey, be proud, man," Keira said.

"Man?"

"Fine, be proud, Mister Vincent."

Vincent didn't respond. Tifa laughed.

After listening to the older man and the brunette talk for a few minutes, Cloud sensed Keira come up behind him. "Tifa's really smart about the fighting arts, isn't she?" she asked cheerfully.

"That she is," Cloud agreed. "She trained under Master Zangan when she was a teenager."

Keira whistled. "Holy and the fucking Moon, that's a pedigree."

"You've got quite a pedigree, yourself," Cloud said lightly.

She paused for a minute.

"SOLDIER, I mean," Cloud added hurriedly.

"Yeah, you _better_ mean that," she said, but her tone was amused.

Cloud squinted at the horizon. It was late morning already; he'd wanted to be out of the caves by nightfall. "Keira…"

"Yeah?"

"Did you ever meet Professor Hojo? When you were in SOLDIER, I mean."

"Yeah, a few times." Keira pulled an awful face. "He was a real slime. I remember when I first joined Shinra, he wanted egg and sperm samples from all the SOLDIER members. Thankfully, old man Shinra shot that down, but I wonder how many samples he got away with before the upper echelons intervened?"

"Maybe that' how he was making Sephiroth clones," Cloud mused aloud.

"Ew, thanks for that thought." She frowned. "Can get off that topic altogether, please?"

"Your speech is very interesting," Cloud said, abruptly changing the subject- he felt rather uneasy talking about Sephiroth after the dreams he'd had, anyways.

"How do you mean?" Keira asked. She had a rather perturbed look on her face. Cloud realized he was probably annoying her.

"Well, it's just that it's such a mix of elegant and foul language."

"I didn't learn much Midgair as a child," she said, a little less irritated now. "Just the standard conversational stuff in primary school. When I turned fifteen, Shinra Inc. started offering free language courses to anyone willing to come to the East Continent and work for them. I wanted to get out of that miserable place, and it seemed the best way. The cursing, I learned from the other SOLDIER trainees, and other than that…I don't know, I read a lot when I was trying to learn it." She laughed again. "So now, I talk like a dirty sailor and a book all at once."

Cloud laughed at that, too. "I've never heard North-speak before."

Keira looked at him, her glowing eyes focused and furious, her mouth set in an expression of deadly severity. She opened her mouth, and out came a harsh, guttural mass of ugly noises.

Cloud jumped. "Goddamn…I mean, hunh."

She continued to glower at him for a moment, then burst into laughter. "Just fuckin' with you, man," she chortled.

"Oh, VERY funny."

Keira chuckled, and responded with something loose and musical, heavy on the consonants and unevenly inflected. "That's the real one, I promise," she said, still laughing.

Cloud had to smile. "What did you say?"

"'I am a tomato," she responded.

"Is that a traditional Northern phrase?"

"Only in the really classy social circles," she told him, her eyes teasing.

* * *

By the time Yuffie had arrived, gasping, in Wutai, the fuss was over. Although she could see several of the locals standing around and looking upset, no one appeared to be hurt. She didn't see fire or anything else to indicate an accident, but the troubled faces of the townspeople convinced her that she hadn't imagined the strange light she had seen.

One of the kimono-clad old ladies saw Yuffie and waved impatiently at her. "Lady Yuffie! Your father has been looking for you everywhere! Go see him immediately!"

"Don't tell me what to do, you old bat," Yuffie muttered under her breath, but her confusion and worry took precedence over her irritation. She pushed through the crowd, scanning every face for her father's. When she finally spotted Lord Godo arguing with some of the workers of Turtle's Paradise, she quickened her steps and walked up behind him. She waited a few minutes, glaring down the workmen her father was talking to until they slunk away.

Godo turned around. His initial expression of relief was quickly replaced by a disapproving scowl. "And just where have _you_ been, young lady?" he bellowed.

"Come off it, old man, I was training!" Yuffie sniped back. "Gawd, Godo, just tell me what the hell happened here!"

He was still frowning, but his voice was calmer when he said, "I can't understand it. Everything was normal, when all of a sudden, there was an explosion in the river."

"The river!"

"Yes, daughter." Godo put his hand on her elbow and guided her until she faced the small, trickling creek that ran beyond Turtle's Paradise. Yuffie silently appraised the round little hollow that had appeared in the formerly shallow crick. "There was a rumble from beneath the earth," he exclaimed. 'We thought it was an earth tremor, but the river shot straight up in the air and came down again so hard, it made a pond."

"Da-Chao…"

"Perhaps."

"Come with me," Yuffie ordered. A sneaking suspicion was growing in her heart; this was not the first time she had seen rebellious waterways act against the people who lived near them. "I want to look at the place the water exploded."

Godo walked her over to the spot. After a few choice words with eager bystanders, Yuffie managed to clear them out and stood, leaning over the little pool. It was no more than a meter across on either side, but its perfect symmetry worried her. "Was anyone hurt?"

The Lord of Wutai shook his head. "A few old grandmothers claim they've been injured, but I imagine a healthy glass of warm sake would cure them quite quickly."

"Typical." Yuffie stared at her reflection, tucking a few strands of black hair behind her ears. She was sweaty and red-faced after her panicked dash into the village.

As Yuffie gazed into the pool, she became acutely aware of her heartbeat thrumming in her ears. It was so shallow, but she still felt an illusion of depth, of endlessness….her heartbeat grew stronger. Dimly, she recalled the sensation of her fist view of the Lifestream, at Mideel…

Yuffie shook her head violently, then backed hurriedly away from the pool. "The sacred name of Da-Chao…Godo!"

"Daughter?"

She turned and grabbed her father by the collar. "Please tell me no one fell in! Please!"

"Yuffie, Yuffie!" Her father clutched her hands and forced them down from his neck. Please, control yourself—"

"Dad, _promise me!_"

The desperate note in her voice stopped him. "Yuffie, no one fell in," he said. "I don't understand why you're acting like this."

"Dad, get the people who got splashed into the hot springs as quickly as you can, she ordered, her heart pounding so hard she could practically taste it. "Then rope this area off!"

"Good gods, what's wrong!"

"Does the phrase 'Mako poisoning' mean anything to you?" she asked, knowing full well that it did. In the war between Wutai and Midgar, many a native Wutaiian had been permanently disfigured or driven insane by the harmful effects of Mako. When her father's frown deepened, she hastily added, "Dad, I've seen the Lifestream break through the ground in places. It's horribly dangerous. Get everyone out of here!" She turned and began dashing towards her apartment.

"Where the hell are you going?" Godo said, in a strangled whisper.

Yuffie didn't even face him as she replied, "I gotta call Cloud! He needs to know about this stuff!" She hurried off, fear holding court in her heart.


End file.
